Tangibility
by TheShyMonster
Summary: Hermione is sent back to the marauder's seventh year, but her tangibility is in question when she finds people can see, hear and smell her yet when they try to touch they fall right through. Snape/Hermione. Guess it will be quite fluffy.
1. Chapter 1

Tangibility

The sun was still casting a warm ember glow across the school grounds. Hermione Granger leant against the heavy ancient bark of a twisted Oak tree facing out towards the heavy ripples of the Black Lake. Her dark brown robes clung to her body with a dirt-riddled mixture of blood and sweat. Her barrage of curls blew across her eyes carried by the sickly hot breeze. A sigh blew through her lips but she didn't reach up to push the thick brown curtain away. Adrenaline had failed her only minutes before, making standing impossible for her. This was how she came to be sitting on the churned mud of the grounds in the after-glow of the battle.

The pungent smell of burning flesh filled her nose. She could hear the slow hiss and crackle of the human cremation behind her, as it licked up the body of biggest monster in their dark little world. The quiet whispers of other survivors burned her ears as they moved about the grounds, giving her silent vigil of the lake a wide birth. Hermione felt an insane urge to laugh as she imagined what they must see when they cast their gaze upon her. Body huddled in her oversized Order robes, matted hair splayed out across the heavy brown material. She sighed again and tore her eyes away from the lake to the snapped wand dangling limply between the fingertips of her left hand. A torn Gryffindor scarf was twisted around her right to stem the flow of blood from a particularly nasty hex.

Her eyes moved lazily past the remnants of her childhood and focused on the soft grass around the edge of the lake. Hermione ignored the flurry of brown material that fell down on the grass next to her, a gangly arm wrapped around her shoulders. The whispers were getting louder but she couldn't understand them anymore. Hermione felt her eyes close against the fuzz of Harry and Ron's quiet conversation about finding her somewhere to rest. The blow of her head falling sideways into Ron's lap barely registered as the roar of sleep dulled her senses.

-

Hermione swallowed a deep breath, and clutched tighter to the two large hands in hers. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Harry duck his head, tears rolling down his cheeks. Comfort may have felt naturally alien to her, but a head on his shoulder and a thumb caressing his hand seemed to help. A sudden snort ruined the deafening silence. Hermione's mouth fell open in shock; outraged lungs drew in air ready to scream at Ron. Harry's hand was released from her grip and she turned to face him. Lips opened, teeth bared and she readied herself to yell but the horrified shaking of Ron's shoulders stopped her. His face burrowed deeper into the knitted G on a Weasley jumper, muffling his whimpers. Hermione reached across the divide between their spindly white chairs and pulled him into her arms. His sobs became vocal once again and Ginny's coffin was lowered into the ground.

-

It had been three months since the battle, which had marked the final hours of her sixth summer as a witch. The images of everything that had happened since blew about her head as Hermione walked purposely across the school grounds. Harry and Ron trailed along behind her, and Hermione sombrely smelt the small bouquet of daises clutched in her hands. Fridays at the long rolling stretch of graves littering the edges of the grounds around Hogwarts had become a traditional past time for the threesome. An outing for pretending that Hermione didn't walk around with dead eyes. A time when they imagined that Harry could bear to use his magic on anyone and when they forgot that Ron cried himself to sleep with his grief every night. They arrived at Ginny's grave and Harry and Hermione purposely turned away from the silent shaking of Ron's hands. She passed the daises to him and he laid them down on the healthy emerald grass.

The November wind chilled them to the bone and each one had traitorous thoughts of their unhealthy obsession with visiting Ginny's grave. But the jump off of the small pier into the furthest depths of the lake from the castle was waiting for them. Dutifully they stripped off the warm outer layers of their school robes and made ready to leap into the frozen darkness out of their thanks for survival.

"Anyone had any thoughts about what we'll do when the lake ices over?" Harry asked, chattering teeth breaking up his speech as he stood in his white shirt and boxers. Ron shrugged, stowing his wand in his shoes was the only activity stopping the sobs. Even speaking would break his concentration and he knew Harry and Hermione had already seen too many tears.

"No idea." Hermione said dully, "We'll have to think of another way to feel alive I guess." They turned as one to the heaving crash of black waves surrounding the pier. The familiar tug of heartstrings pulled in their chests when they all heard the sweet laughter of the little sister that had told them…

"I'd rather jump into the bloody black lake then let people know I had been so stupid as to accidentally let old Riddle get me." With a deep breath the three ran towards the edge of the wooden pier, preparing themselves for the onslaught of frozen pain. But an obstacle was emerging:

"Leaving so soon?" the cold whip of the voice cut through the wind like a knife. Shock sent Harry and Ron flying up into the air above the water, but Hermione skidded and turned to see Lucius Malfoy. Blood red eyes flickered across from her to the two boys arching in the sky towards the water. Green mud covered robes licked out behind him, his long white hair tangling with it. Hermione watched in horror as he lifted a long pointed wand at them. His voice was high and laced with desperation as he screamed.

"Horaventus," a crack of lightening shot from the long elegant wand, and Harry and Ron dropped below the pier into the water. The spell plunged through Hermione's chest and suddenly she felt herself falling backwards. Her head and back hit the hard planks of the pier, knocking the air from her lungs.

White lights flashed across her vision and she reached out to grasp the dark November sky that was disappearing from above her. Sudden angry pain ripped through her heart and she screamed out for help. The lights disappeared slowly and she watched in horror as the sky burned away with them. A feeling of furious spinning ripped through Hermione. Her body turned numb but her brain continued to fight to stay awake.

She slowly succumbed to the darkness, still trying to kick out and fight against the spell. But a sudden blow to her head, knocking it's numb bulk to the left, blew a fuse in her fight, and she only knew the fizz of sleep.

-

"Oi! **Oi! **What the hell are you doing?" The ground was **too** hard, the noise **too** loud, the light **too** furious as it tried to force its way through her eyelids. Hermione groaned and tried to push the pain in her head away with willpower alone. When nothing happened and angry shouts of someone too close grew too fierce she cracked open one eye.

"Thank you! Was that so hard? Showing me you weren't a corpse wasn't too taxing was it?" Heavy black eyes glared down at her from above and Hermione felt a sense of odd relief to see the sky again above a black hair framed face. "Ok now you can say something so I know you're alright, then I can leave and _maybe _tip off Madam Pomfrey that there's a hungover student by the lake." Hermione tried to focus on the face berating her from above. His voice grated on her nerves and she felt a nearly unavoidable urge to tell him to leave her alone in a string of expletives. But something told her that was a bit too much of a Ron like reaction. Hermione cracked open her other eye and suddenly found it much easier to see the boy standing above her. Clothed in Slytherine robes and carrying a large pile of books under one arm, the boy stared down at her with a severe nose and angry eyes. A feeling of familiarity itched at the back of her mind and she tried to collect her thoughts, but he started talking again. "Seriously, the longer it takes for you to speak the less chance I have of getting you help." Hermione rolled her eyes and sat up on the wooden floor of the pier, the boy took a hasty step back and observed her bemused look. "I don't actually know you as you're probably aware so this act of kindness is quite out of character…"

"Oh piss off Snape." Hermione looked up in horror as the words flew out of her mouth without her instruction, now sure how she knew the boy.

-

Lucius Malfoy shifted from foot to foot nervously as he watched the mudblood talk to a young Severus Snape. His wand twirled between his fingers in anticipation. His plan hadn't exactly worked seeing as it wasn't the precious Potter who was lying vulnerable to attack only feet away, but he smirked knowing that Granger could almost be good enough. He tapped the small marble in his pocket with his shaking wand and was pulled out of Hogwarts by the portkey to his unsuspecting master.

-

A.N – Revamped this chapter in my new short sentence style, which was quite fun and killed some time.

Thanks for reading. I would really love a review if you have time but I know you're probably eager to read something else, so no pressure.

Becky

(Researching Snape. Love him even more now because of wikipedia… didn't think that was possible…)


	2. Chapter 2

Hook-nosed, stringy hared and with the temperament of a troll being whacked repeatedly over the head Severus Snape stood staring down at the strange girl in front of him and wished for the umpteenth time that he hadn't got out of bed that morning.

His day just kept getting worse.

The marauders had already attacked him three times and Lucious was pressurising him again when all he wanted to do was crawl back to his dorm and hide from the world but out of some absurd glitch in his genetic makeup that day he had felt like he needed to stop to help this girl. She was staring up at him now with a half-bemused and half-terrified wide-eyed look gracing her features and her long bushy hair was sticking out at odd angles from her head. In his opinion unless Severus had very much lost his touch he guessed she had been rolling around with at least one marauder recently. His lip quirked wondering who else would leave a defenceless girl out by the lake in nothing but a school shirt and a small pair of what Severus hoped was just a pair of _really _small shorts. But pushing all thoughts of how she had arrived on the wooden pier of the lake so scantily dressed Severus faced the big issue – a girl who he had no recollection of… knew his name.

Hermione's brain was whirling, her head was working at such a confused and frazzled speed she could nearly feel the ticking of cogs moving around inside of her mind as she processed just how much danger she was in. Somehow she was staring up at a boy who she could only describe as a teenaged version of her Potion's Professor. She seemed to be at Hogwarts she noticed, with a calmer thought then she believed she was capable of, after all the lake was shimmering to her left; the grass was that perfect Hogwarts green she could never duplicate in her mother's garden and even the castle was rising up into the clouds in the distance. Everything was the same. That is except the tall Slytherine boy who was staring down at her with trepidation. Oh and how they were attracting a crowd. A group of girls were walking purposely towards them, their wands out and scowls across their faces. Professor Snape hadn't seemed to notice, or didn't seem to care. His hand was suddenly reaching out towards her shoulder and she watched in wonder as it got closer and closer until suddenly it had gone right through her shirt. Hermione heard screaming and Severus jumped back shell-shocked, nursing his hand against his chest in horror. The crowd arrived.

"Snape! What did you do to her? Sweetie are you alright?" a girl with long red hair and pale skin was looking down at her, she barely registered in her peripheral vision that Professor Snape had been pushed back away from her. Two tall girls were yelling at him but she couldn't hear the insults, so loud was the screaming that was still deafening her. "Sweetie. Stop. It's okay." The girl was reaching out for her with a long pale hand. The screaming was everywhere. Hermione shuffled away from the girl's hand, petrified of what had happened with the Professor. A burning ripped through her throat suddenly and with shock Hermione realised. The screaming was coming from her. The new silence that came with her closed mouth felt alien and Hermione forced her way to her feet. "Sweetie. What happened? Did Severus…" the girl was reaching out again.

Stepping further away Hermione hugged herself for comfort, and with a swirl of flame coloured hair the girl was no longer looking at her but glaring daggers at Snape.

"I didn't do anything, Evans." He said quietly, Hermione watched his gaze flicker between Evans and herself, he looked as terrified as she felt. Evans was suddenly directly in front of him and holding her palms up.

"Cloak."

"Excuse me?" he said dryly to hide his confusion. He was now sitting on the heavy wooden slats of pier (a position his lectures had believed was the most likely to stop him from attacking). She gestured back to Hermione and Severus' eyes followed; he pondered lightly on how the shorts appeared even smaller when the strange girl was standing. His eyes connected with this anomaly's and he pulled his arm tighter to himself. He knew what Lily wanted but he was wary of what would happen to the cloak – would it fall right through the weird girl too?

His curiosity handed over the garment in the end.

The robe was dropped onto Hermione's quivering shoulders and she seemed calm until suddenly Evans tried to pat her hair, the girl suddenly sprung forward. Too close for comfort to the mystery Severus scrabbled back away from her on his hands. He wasn't taking any chances.

Hermione saw flight as her only option. She needed to escape her young Potions Professor and the girls who were trying to smother her. She wanted to escape from Hogwarts all together but she knew it wasn't practical… a shiver travelled up her spine as she remembered exactly how she had got to that strange place in the first place. The terror that was Lucious Malfoy could be anywhere and that was what finally sent her off running to the safety of the castle.

Until a moment five minutes after she had crashed through the heavy oak doors leading to the Entrance Hall Hermione Granger had considered herself a very practical person. But as she looked around from the safety of the corner she was huddled in at the many strange students running around her, oblivious to the small dark shape she made against the wall, she knew the truth: she wasn't practical, she was a coward. The cold metallic twang of the armour against the skin exposed by the pulled back sleeve of Snape's robe made her shiver but Hermione refused to move. She could die in that corner for all she cared at that moment, it wouldn't be too bad – she had the spider webs for company.

"Excuse me." the soft voice made her jump and knock the suit of armour over, it split and rolled across the floor and Hermione looked up guiltily at a man wearing a long blue robe covered in tiny crescent moons. Her eyes travelled up from sandal covered feet, across the sparkly robe and over a white beard. Each inch she took in filled her with more relief until she wanted to throw herself into Professor Dumbledore's arms. "Do you need some help?" she could feel tears staining her cheeks and she nodded dumbly. Hermione pulled herself to her feet, vicious sobs now rocking her body as everything overwhelmed her, one bad situation after another hitting after another. "Now, now dear, let's sort you out, shall we?" he reached out to help walk her across the Entrance Hall, his face barely registered the shock his system took when his hand fell straight through. "Well isn't that interesting."

Huddled in Severus's robe in a soft plush chair, Hermione looked around the large office of Professor Dumbledore and raised her teacup to her lips. Dumbledore watched her from his side of his desk; his chin rested on his inter-locked fingers. Drawing together the few things he knew about her and despite the small amount he did including her status as a stranger and her odd attire he concluded that she wasn't a fret.

"Now," he began kindly and the girl looked up at him with big, saddened eyes. "Could you start from the beginning." Shaking hands lowered the teacup down to its saucer and she pulled her legs up underneath her and onto the chair to cross them.

"Well my name is Hermione Granger. I am a seventh year and this morning I was on the pier with my friends…" she paused wondering whether it was wise to tell Dumbledore their names, but a friendly smile and incline of his head and she found herself blurting out her entire sorry story. "I was on the pier with my friends Harry and Ron. We were running to jump into the lake when Lucious Malfoy surprised us, he hit me with a spell that missed Harry and Ron and suddenly I woke up being prodded by Professor Snape…" Dumbledore looked thoughtful, and broke her off.

"Professor?" he asked. Hermione didn't stop to think about implications or time codes; she could feel trust radiating out from Dumbledore and she nearly broke down again but stopped herself to continue her tale.

"I'm so confused Professor. I don't know where I am, I mean Severus Snape is my thirty-seven year old Potion's teacher and yet he doesn't look a day older then me here." Professor Dumbledore watched as she sucked in a huge breath and he interrupted her again.

"There is also the matter of my hand falling through you arm when I tried to help you earlier." With a twinkle in his eye he sat back in his chair and surveyed her again. "Does this happen to you a lot?" The sobs climbed back out of her throat and her shoulders shook again.

"No." she said, her voice cracking, a handkerchief appeared in front of her and she took it gratefully, wiping her tears away quickly. "But it happened with Snape earlier and oh I don't know what to do, Professor." Dumbledore stood from behind his desk and walked around to sit next to her.

"Do you remember what spell Lucious Malfoy used on you?" Hermione thought back to the confrontation but all she could remember was the roar of the November wind. She shook her head. "Well that is not very helpful, miss. But even without the spell I believe here is a strong chance that you have travelled back in time… comparing Mr. Snape's ages I'd have to say about twenty years." Even though Hermione herself had come to this conclusion it still made her burst in to a new wave of tears. She thought sourly that it was probably her way of releasing all the pent up tears from the war.

"I think we need to start with our top priority. You. I am aware that the Malfoy's are not the nicest family even now so you must be kept safe until we can achieve our second priority which is sending you back to your own timeline." Hermione looked up at him quizzically. He gestured to her tea and she obediently sipped it again. "The most effective way of keeping you safe would be to keep you at Hogwarts of course…" Dumbledore began to pace back and forth, "We would need you to hide in plain site, as well. You could be just another student…" she put her tea down, as he looked at her again intrigued.

"Would you mind if I tried something?" Hermione shook her head, she watched Dumbledore take another pace, her mind didn't have time to wonder why he was walking towards one of his small tables before suddenly a small medallion was flying towards her head. It shot through. Screaming Hermione jumped up from her seat and pulled her wand out of shirtsleeve (only Ron would still not be paranoid enough to leave his wand on the shore) and she pointed it at Dumbledore, her face twisted with anger and betrayal. The professor held his hands up in front of him to show her he meant no harm, but Hermione continued to stare at him her wand raised. "I am sorry Miss Granger, but I didn't think you would let me throw something at your head if you know it was coming. People have the tendency to duck." Outraged her arm straightened, the wand still pointing at his heart.

"And what exactly would you have done if it hadn't gone through? If you had knocked me unconscious?" Dumbledore chuckled and walked around his desk and resumed him seat, Hermione's eyes still locked on him with an incredulous glare.

"I was nearly completely sure it would go through, don't worry Miss Granger." She sat down, shocked.

"How?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I have been throwing things through you for the past five minutes when you weren't looking." His casual manner and voice angered her even more and she resisted the temptation to curse him, knowing that would hardly be wise. "I had out of respect not tried your head yet and I felt that it was an experiment you should be aware of." Hermione winced at this knowledge and at the reminder of what a freak not being able to be touched made her she looked down at the crimson carpet. "At this moment I am not completely sure of why you appear before me but you're untouchable. You can manipulate your surroundings obviously because you are sitting on that chair and when I tried to touch it earlier y hand went through like it did your robed arm. It is very curious indeed." Hermione groaned and put her head in her hands, her elbows resting on the table.

"I'm a freak."

"Maybe." Hermione tried to breathe properly. In, one two three, out, one two three but the air was catching in her throat. "But this could be completely logical. It has properly happened because you're not completely in this time." Hermione head snapped up and she looked at him sharply, trying to make him continue. "Well… this is purely guesswork. But I would have to say that this spell did not completely send you back here. Which is of course unlike what happens when one travels with a timeturner." She nodded, deep in thought. Did this mean there was a way back? "But seeing as I have no idea what spell was used, we will need to reply on the future to help you get home. Technology must have increased and my future self will have more hope then I do." Dumbledore too looked to be in a deep train of thought until he suddenly sprung from his chair and refilled her teacup. "Well first things first." He pulled his wand from his sleeve and turned to her with it raised.

"What are you doing?" a twitch of his fingers and suddenly she was wearing some normal clothes and Severus' robe was folded neatly in a neighbouring chair.

"As we will be keeping you here, Miss Granger, I think it wise for you to attend classes." He crossed back over to his desk. "Erm would you mind removing your elbows." Quickly she lifted them and Dumbledore could reach into his desk now that it was tangible again. He pulled a small brown draw string bag from the mess that was his top drawer and shook off the glitter that had climbed out of it with the bag. Smiling he handed it over to her, "This should be a sufficient amount to get you everything you will need for the remaining school year." Upon opening the bag Hermione spied a collection of galleons and gratefully put it in her pocket.

"Thank you." He smiled at her and nodded kindly.

"I don't think it would be wise to put you in a dorm where you would constantly be on guard to keep up a lie about who you really are. So we will place you in a room elsewhere. Sadly that would mean you wouldn't be with house. Is that okay?" she nodded, but something in his speech confused her.

"My lie?" she asked and Dumbledore nodded enthusiastically and explained.

"We'll say you have started at Hogwarts to qualify for you exams. You were home schooled in Southern England until now. You can keep your name. What house were you in?" Hermione paused as her mouth opened to reply but at the last second she decided something.

"Ravenclaw." His eyebrows raised, Dumbledore surveyed her, knowing she was lying from reading her mind. She smiled innocently at him and he put it out of his mind.

The truth was Hermione had been doing some thinking since he had told her she was going to need to lie. She had decided seeing as that Professor Snape was at school, it meant that other adults she knew were and that being in Ravenclaw would help her avoid them.

-

The next day Hermione walked down Hogsmeade's main street her arms laden with bags. The November wind was harsh and it bit the exposed skin above her scalf. She huddled lower into the heavy cloak and hat she had bought as soon as she had arrived in the little village and looked herself. She had finished all of her shopping and her pocket was now considerably lighter. But she could feel the grooves the bag handles were making in her hands growing inflamed and she wanted to find somewhere she could sit down for a while. In the distance Hermione spotted the small bookshop she had visited earlier on in the day to buy her schoolbooks. Deciding it was time for some recreational reading material she made her way for the little shop.

She felt like an idiot sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the other students. All around her along the cobbled road people stared at her, she could even see Evans pointing and whispering to a friend. She knew she had already alienated herself and that saddened her as she walked across the threshold of the bookshop. Suddenly in her element she dropped her many bags in a soft chair and began happily tracing her fingers up and down the spines of the nearest books. She breathed in the smell of their pages and walked towards the History section.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled but she continued walking towards the corner of the bookshop pushing away the feelings of suspicion.

"You." Comes a whisper in her ear and she cringes looking at the frightened face of one Severus Snape.

"Hello?" she says and her voice cracked, he smiled wickedly and she could nearly see all of his teeth and it sent a scared shiver down her spine. He took a confident step forward but his face was still twisted in caution and frightened suspicion. Then even though she willed her feet not to she felt herself take a step back on shaking legs. He followed and they were in a race backwards until Hermione felt her back hit the wall of books. She nearly swore with horror but stopped herself.

"Now. What are you?" Severus Snape said conversationally despite the scared quiver of his mouth. Hermione felt trapped and she didn't answer, staring instead up at him with shock with her mouth hanging open. She had really not seen this coming.

"I said what are you." His voice hissed and very thing that Professor Snape had ever done to intimidate her flooded back, scared she tried to push him away but instead ran right through his torso. Severus Snape hollered and ripped his wand out of his sleeve. A spell was on the tip of his tongue as she rushed out of the shop leaving her bags behind.

"Miss!" yelled the shop assistant after her. "Miss, your shopping! Miss." Severus' breathing was ragged and he walked towards the woman with frizzy yellow hair and spectacles calling out of the door.

"It is okay. I'll take them up to the school for her." Severus needed any chance he could get to confront this strange girl. He hadn't seen her since the afternoon before out by the lake, he had looked but she hadn't appeared at a meal or in any corridors since. This was because after leaving the Headmaster's office late at night Hermione had spent her time since then locked away in her new room up in the Charm's corridor. It was hidden behind a suit of armour and Hermione hadn't wanted to leave that morning to come to Hogsmeade let alone venture into the Great Hall for breakfast.

-

Hermione had stopped running. She was now walking along slowly trying to catch her breathe and stop tears from leaking from her eyes and making her even colder. The weather was bitter and snow clouds were rolling in from the north. Low shouts were coming from behind a hedge and intrigued Hermione walked around it to spy a group of boy's playing with freshly mown grass. She rolled her eyes at their antics before turning to walk away and back up to Hogwarts. But her nose had other ideas. An uncontrollable sneeze erupted from her and she nearly fell back into the nushe. Another ripped through her and she knew that the grass was causing her this bother. Hermione was unwittingly drawing attention to herself.

"Is she dying or something?" Peter Pettigrew said to his friends as they stood, grass till clutched in their hand and stared at the twitching girl. They ran up to her laughing.

"It's probably hay fever." Said Remus Lupin knowingly. Giggling with glee Sirius and James proceeded to press the grass in their hands closer to Hermione's face. "Don't. That's cruel guys." Though Lupin had to fight a laugh, as the sneezes became even more violent.

"Leave me alone!" Hermione said thickly and James, Peter and Sirius giggled harder, they sprinkled the grass onto her hair. "Don't touch me!" she screamed seeing their hands coming forward again with more hay. She tried to walk away giving them a look that questioned their sanity and Sirius reached out to grab her and add more grass to her hair. She started to run. Suddenly red lights shot through the bush and the boys dropped to the ground stunned. She pulled out her wand, cautious as she walked away from them lying face down in the cut grass.

-

Lucious Malfoy watched Severus Snape from the safety of the Shack he had hidden himself away in to spy on Granger. He decided that Snape could be useful.

AUTHOR NOTE: Hello. A nice long chapter that has made the joints of my fingers hurt but has inspired me to try and crank out a chapter of my other Snape fic. But I doubt I'll finish one tonight because I'm so darn sleepy.

Merry Easter people.


	3. Chapter 3

Severus smoothed down his hair, suddenly self-conscious. The shinning suit of armour he knew hid the strange girl, stood before him. His shoulders felt tense and he was suddenly incredibly uncomfortable in his school robes. Thankfully his palms were sweating, slightly soothing the grooves her shopping was making in his hands. What was wrong with him?

A strange fluttering feeling was buzzing in his stomach and it confused him. As well as made him feel slightly queasy. The Charms corridor was empty of all signs of life and stretched out what felt like endlessly on either side of him. The short black hairs stuck up on his arms in what he thought was paranoia as he heard the clock tower chime six o'clock in the distance. The girl still hadn't come out, and it felt like someone was watching him… a sudden memory of his symptoms described in a book made him feel even more sick to the stomach; he was excited. Excited. Waiting for her to appear filled him with anticipation? Yes, there was definitely something wrong with him.

Severus backed away from the suit of armour and lent in what he supposed was a casual slant against the wall. He would give her five more minutes. She would have to come out for dinner sooner of later and even he was hungry from waiting to give her back her shopping.

-

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked Severus' oblivious form through her peephole. He had been standing there for the past forty-five minutes in a silent vigil for her and she was **really **hungry. "Go away!" she willed him desperately through the small round whole in the wall dividing them. Dejected, she backed away from her only exit and sat down to fantasise of the table groaning with the weight of the dinner lying in anticipation for her downstairs. "Damn you!" she yelled at the suit of armour shielding her from her former professor. Her stomach growled with her in mutual fury and she wondered just how long ago it was that she ate anything that wasn't a lemon drop.

-

The potions classroom was filled with a bitter icy wind. Her toes curled in protest inside of her school shoes and she tugged her robes tighter around herself. But the cold still bit at her fingers and exposed neck. The walls climbed up out of a mould covered stone floor and she lent away from the suspicious looking mushroom growing next to her. The stool she sat on was just as hard as she remembered. Her knees were pushed harshly into the wood of her table leg as she tried to cross one leg over another to save her body heat. The bang of the wooden door to the dungeon hitting the stone wall made her jump and she winced at the bruise she knew would form on her knee.

"Ah Mr. Snape, how nice of you to join us, take your seat." The mumbles and whispers that had been flying around the classroom since she had picked a table suddenly made sense. Snape would be her neighbour for the next year. He was standing, glowering down at her and ignoring Slughorn's attempts to make him sit.

"That's my table." The contempt in his voice dripped like acid and the sting bought out a sudden streak of her stubborn nature.

"Well apparently its mine too now." Hermione watched him fume as Slughorn drew closer and he was forced to take a seat. He pulled his robes tight around himself and pulled the table away slightly with his booted foot. The jolt sent her knee careening into the table leg again and she could practically imagine how back and blue she would be soon. She turned her head, her bushy ponytail whipping around in her anger and began to glare at him. But the look of half-awe and half-terror that was sculpted into his face stopped her, and she turned back to the lecture.

"… add root of rosemary and powdered unicorn horn to this mixture?" the gust of wind that was the result of her arm being flung into the air shocked the class. A moan passed through them as they witnessed 'Snape 2' answer another question perfectly.

"_Just what we need: another know-it-all_." Hermione's attention was focused on Slughorn so she didn't hear the quip, but Snape did. He turned around curiously and saw the marauders eyeing Hermione with disdain. His lip curled in fury; a couple of questions didn't make someone smart. He waited with his arm ready at his side for the next question and he flicked the hair out of his eyes triumphantly when he was called on.

"A strong mix of a luck and confidence potion resulting in an extreme dose of arrogance if drunken too often." The mumbles were starting again, a new target in their range.

"_Apparently Snape was breast fed on the stuff_."

Hermione ran her fingers through her fringe to push it out of her way so she could read the instructions on the board.

"Ron you start the cauldrons, Harry you write down the instructions, I'll go get us all the ingredients…" her instructions stopped abruptly. She quickly realised what she had said in a classroom full to the brim of people from the past. Severus raised an eyebrow and decided to ignore her. She bit her lip sadly, consumed with homesickness and pushed her stool back from the table.

Thirty minutes later Hermione silently counted anti-clockwise stirs and forced herself to ignore Severus as he deviated from the instructions yet again. He was standing hunched over his cauldron and was mumbling something to himself under his breath. She looked up at the board through the purple steam spiralling out of her cauldron and read the last line of the recipe again. Her fingers closed around the unicorn horn feeling its rough spirals without having to look.

But just as she was about to add her final ingredient something white and spinning splashed into Snape's cauldron. He threw an exasperated look over his shoulder. Which was then quickly followed by a death glare upon seeing the marauders' laughter.

"Oh for the love of…" the eruption was stunning. Hermione had to acknowledge that, later on when she curled up in bed and thought about it. Purple fire spilling out onto the table, fireworks spinning off up into the air and a thick yellow smoke billowing out of the mess that was his potion. When everything was cleared she looked at Snape to see if he was hurt. White goo smothered his robes and his face was smeared with back soot. His expression of resignation was disturbing and she looked away frightened by the emptiness. That was when she saw the white goo, a stark contrast against the black material of her robes.

"Oh for the love of Merlin." She said angrily as she rubbed at her face, feeling it smudge with soot. The foot stomping and fist making, although completely out of character, were none the less satisfying. She was definitely fed up with this. How much more could she really handle?

Slughorn suddenly appeared with a worried look on his face.

"Oh. Oh dear." He watched her silent temper tantrum as everything overwhelmed her again, before he turned to Snape. "Best take her to the prefect bathroom with you. Clean her up and calm her down." The scowl looked almost humorous on Severus' furious dirty face as a wolf-whistle sounded at the back of the classroom.

"_Oh how cute – nerd love_."

-

They walked in angry silence down the many twisting corridors to the prefect bathroom. Both were still fuming from the explosion, and the large gap in-between their paths was evidence of this.

The journey was not long through the long thin hallways and after an embarrassing incident with Peeves and a round of stunners they arrived at the small wooden door. Hermione walked into the room and looked around in wonder. The walls stretched high up above meeting at a point to create a ceiling. The huge bath was filled with warm clear water lapping at the sides, licking at the large taps.

The prefect bathroom was a haven and she had spent many hours hidden away in there during the Ron and Lavender fiasco. She rolled her eyes at the memory as she walked towards a large gilded mirror. Hermione surveyed herself passively and pulled her ruined hair out of its messy ponytail. She sighed and wondered just how much work the house elves would have to do to get the goo out of her robes…

"Who are you?" Snape's reflection stood menacingly behind her in the mirror, she rolled her eyes at his dramatic Snape pose – arms folded feet apart and a glare fixed straight for her.

"Hermione Granger." Honesty was the best policy. This was something she had discovered during her classes already that day. People didn't need to know all of the facts although she guessed Snape deserved to satisfy his curiosity to some extent.

"What are you?" Outrage flooded Hermione's expression. What did he think she was? A hippogrifth? She threw a scandalised look at his reflection and walked towards a changing room.

"A person. Just like you." She yelled back defiantly over her shoulder. She slammed the cubicle door loudly and pealed off her spoiled robes. A dark blue swimming costume was already waiting for her on a shelf and she pulled it on followed by a fluffy white towel.

Hermione stepped out of the changing room to see Snape wearing a pair of long black swimming trunks. He scowled at her as she smothered a laugh seeing the soot stop at the pale white skin that had been hidden under his robes.

"Then why can't I touch you?" Snape didn't miss a beat and picked up his questioning the second she was completely out of the cubicle. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she wondered when he had learnt enough manners not to talk to her whilst she was changing. She walked to the edge of the pool and dropped her towel on the stone floor.

"Don't worry, you're nothing special – no one can." She jumped up and fell down with a crash into the water. The warmth soothed her singed nerves and defrosted the cold left in her bones from the potion classroom. She surfaced with a gasp for breath, and watched Snape. He was sitting at the edge of the bath, cupping his hands to gather water and then washing his hair. "Why are you doing that?" he looked at her confused.

"Doing what?"

"Not getting in." he laughed dryly and cupped his hands together to pull up more water.

"I don't like you and you don't like me. I gather it would be rather rude to join you." She raised an eyebrow intrigued but let it go and dunked under the water again.

It was not until Hermione was rinsing the last bubbles from her hair that Snape spoke again.

"Then why _can't _I touch you." She looked at him blankly.

"Can't say." He nodded and sneered at her as she climbed out of the water and grabbed her towel. He walked into a changing room as she did and Hermione was surprised to find fresh new robes waiting for her. A dozen drying spell for her hair later and she emerged from the small changing room.

"I still think you're a freak." The insult was slung so casually Hermione's mouth dropped open, and Snape turned and walked from the bathroom.

-

The old draughty castle in the middle of western England was the perfect place for Lord Voldemort to hide from the aurors. Smothered in every protection charm known to wizardkind and a few dark spells that not even Dumbledore could decode, Voldemort felt safe.

Deep in the bowels of the castle were the dungeons. Rats scurried over the dead carcasses of previous prisoners and Lucious felt like a trapped mouse waiting for Voldemort to pounce. The walls were thick with slime and mould, the floor was unbearably cold and he hadn't seen his wand in days. A dull cough that sounded through the wall constantly was the only proof to Lucius that other people existed in what felt like a lonely world.

A sudden creak of rusty hinges and his cell-door was flung open.

"So your younger self assures me that you are indeed Lucius Malfoy." Tom Riddle walked into the room his nose held high against the stench of the cell. "So, I now trust you to deliver this 'amazing information' you have for me." Lucius's voice croaked with disuse as he told Riddle of his journey back in time and the annoying child who was best friends with the boy who would bring about his downfall.

"…We need to get close to Snape. I watched him and he has the power to trap the girl so we can steal her."

"Ah yes. Young Mr. Snape, we've had our eye on him for a while."

-

Hermione read the passage on hybrid transfiguration again and sighed when she realised she hadn't taken in a world for the fifth time. Snape was praying on her mind and she couldn't concentrate properly. His dark form appeared at her side all of a sudden and she jumped slightly in her chair.

"You want to move right now." His lazy drawl hinted at the urgency with a stiff tone and an upward incline of his head. Hermione looked at him suspiciously,

"Why?"

"It just so happens that the marauders are looking all to eagerly at the large bubble of custard currently suspended above your head."

"Oh."

"Yes." Hermione looked up with trepidation and watched the bubble spin above her, looming, in the middle of the library.

"Bloody hell."

"Yes." She scooped her stuff into her bag and jumped out of the way. The bubble crashed onto her seat and smothered the table in custard. The moans of disappointment from the marauders filled their ears. Then their loud planning of a back-up plan sent Snape and Hermione running from the library.

They walked down to the grounds together and sat in silence under a large Oak tree. Surprisingly unconscious to the fact that they hadn't separated in disgust yet.

Hermione decided that she must say something; the peaceful silence was unsettling.

"Thank you for saving me." He looked at her lazily; his sneer she decided bordered on amusement. But she could not be sure.

"I wouldn't thank me – I will be expecting repayment." Hermione raised an eyebrow at him and lent her head back against the trunk of the tree. She reached into her bag and pulled her Transfiguration book from the library. Cracking it open she delved back into the hybrid theory. Snape dug around in his bag and found his essay, ink and a quill and they worked in companionable silence. Out of the corner of her eye she watched him pull a sugar quill from the pocket of his robes. The calculating expression on his face puzzled her until:

"Do you want the stick end?" Hermione jumped in shock, but nodded numbly, "I don't really like that part." She grinned at his uncomfortable look as he snapped it off for her.

"Funny – I don't like that bit." She said and pointed to the half he was now putting in his mouth. Hermione sucked thoughtfully on hers, wondering when their comradeship had started. With a shrug she turned back to her book.


	4. Chapter 4

A.N – Hello, I am still in the middle of my GCSEs but I didn't have to go in today because I didn't have one. So anyway I have some extreme free time today because I don't want to revise for my remaining four exams so I have actually already updated but I am in a Snape mood so shall continue.

-

"No, laughter is definitely the best way to get rid of a boggart." Severus laughed dryly and poked the book sharply with his index finger before replying.

"Yeah? Well 'Defence: A way of life' disagrees." Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed the book away causing it to drop through Snape's hands and hit the table. The resounding thump it made was very satisfying indeed.

"Look, Snape, I know I'm right so just…"

"Oh, I seriously doubt that." Hermione rubbed her eyes in exasperation and picked up the textbook to flip through the boggart information.

Weeks had passed since Snape and she had become something vaguely resembling acquaintances and their constant arguments were grating on her nerves. Ron and Harry's oblivious trust in her knowledge looked so welcoming at that moment. The sun streamed in through the closed library window and Hermione switched to staring wistfully at the sun gathering on the windowsill. Christmas was looming and the future months at Hogwarts looked gloomy. Over the past few weeks trapped in the 1970s Hermione had thrown herself into her studies to ignore the dull ache in her belly. A pain obviously linked to her homesickness. The only consolation was that at least she had someone to talk to every now and again when Snape grew bored of being alone.

"Don't get me wrong, Snape! I mean, I used to be just like you, I believed that books were the words of Merlin himself."

"I doubt you have the mental capacity to be like me, Granger." Hermione rolled her eyes again and poked the quill in Snape's hand. It drifted slowly through his fingers as her touch turned it impervious to his. Snape growled low in his throat and pulled all of his stuff away from her.

"I told you to stop doing that." He said murderously, upon spotting an inkblot forming on his parchment. Hermione flashed him an innocent smile. "You're insufferable."

"Oh, Snape I never knew you cared."

"Freak." Snape hissed between clenched teeth. The malicious snarl he threw at Hermione obviously intending to frighten her barely made her pause to think.

"Wow 'freak' really is the best you can do." She shook her head at him in mock pity and bit her lip. "I'm almost disappointed." His angry snarl grew until she could almost count all of his teeth. His lips peeled back in disgust nearly disappearing as he bore down on her. Hermione sat calmly in her seat and surveyed him. "Quite pathetic really…"

"You disgusting little mongrel." Snape yelled at her, spittle flew from the corners of his mouth and Hermione was suddenly thankful for her lack of tangibility.

"Ew…" she said casually as he kicked back his chair and glared down at her from a new height. A trickle of fear suddenly buzzed along her spine. With wide eyes she realised her disadvantaged position was making him more intimidating. Hermione stood to gain a safer level. Her new height caused her to be standing directly infront of him. Confused by her frazzled nerves Hermione stepped away with an air of forced casualness.

"I think you're dead." His blunt statement suddenly made her feel slightly better and she walked a few steps away to a bookcase and grabbed a book from a shelf. Her nonchalant pose leaning against the shelves flicking casually through the text infuriated him even more. Hermione laughed dryly and raised her eyes to meet Severus'

"Funny how I'm not floating a foot of the ground then. Or yelling 'boo' at random passers by…" Snape suddenly stalked towards her. Flustered Hermione dropped the book and tried to decide between fleeing and fighting. His hand reached out before she could make a decision. His fingertips dusted along the edge of where her jaw would be. A caress… almost. His head bowed and Hermione looked at him numbly as lips aligned with her ear.

"Now, who said anything about you being a ghost?" the whisper was warm on her skin and Hermione tried to push him away. But before she could run he was gone. Severus walked back to the table and scooped his stuff into his bag. Hermione remained frozen to the bookcase as he ignored her presence and moved towards the door.

"What does that mean?" she screamed at him across the deserted library. A sudden horrified fear was building up inside of her. Snape closed the door softly behind himself.

-

Hermione staggered across the lawns oblivious to the freezing snow that was soaking her robes through. The heavy, warm wool cloak waiting in her dormitory was far from her mind. Frantic thoughts of her own mortality were flashing in her thoughts and she scratched at her hand harshly trying to control her mind. The scratching was something she had discovered after the war. Whenever she was feeling particularly scared a pinch or scratch was the perfect way to focus her mind. It shocked her out of her self-depreciating thoughts and made her concentrate. But it seemed Snape had ruined her fail-safe method and she was petrified.

The lake looked as inviting as ever. With a jolt she realised that she hadn't been filling their promise to jump in Ginny's memory. On autopilot her feet pulled her towards the shore. The ice-scattered across the surface of the lake hadn't fully formed. With hollow happiness she could see a large open patch of frosty water at the end of their pier. The pebbles were not a complete idea in her mind. Later on she concluded to Snape that she thought the cold must have been numbing her head. It must have been twisting her ideas around and confusing her because only seconds later she was standing at the end of the long wooden pier. Hermione tipped herself forward on her tiptoes. Silently testing the weight of her heavy pebble-laden pockets. The water looked inviting. Further out she could see the Giant Squid swerving around, a blurry jumble of curves under the surface of the ice.

'What am I doing?' the realisation of her position, poised ready to jump flooded into Hermione's mind. She stood a hurried step backwards with a quiet sigh of relief. Hermione began to twist on the long wooden planks, ready to rush back indoors and settle her fear rationally.

But she never made the turn back to the school.

"**Boo**." The shout sent her toppling forward, and Hermione produced an ear-splitting scream as she crashed into the water. The cold was everywhere and Hermione kicked out blindly as her body tried to shut down. She didn't hear the splash but she did see three more bodies fall into the water. Bubbles streamed everywhere and she watched with morbid curiosity as Severus, Sirius Black and James Potter struggled in the water. All of a sudden her vision was obscured by folds of black material and shocked she watched Severus desperately try to drag her to the surface. His pleading, persuasive face kicked her limbs into action and her head broke the surface with a deep gasp. But the stones in her pockets were too much for her numb arms and legs and she dropped below again. Severus desperately tried to clutch her face and pull her to the surface. Frustrated he tried to rip the pebbles from her pockets. Terrified her hands joined him until the material tore and Snape could pull away the pebbles no longer trapped inside. They both kicked their legs in long strides and broke the surface together.

"Do you really think I'm dead." Snape looked at her with exasperation, silently asking if she had lost her mind. Hermione stopped treading water and started to sink beneath the frigid water again. Snape hollered in frustration before ducking under the water again. Hermione watched bubbles stream from him through the dirty water as he mouthed the word 'no' at her and frantically shook his head. The lack of oxygen was beginning to get to her and her eyes lazily rolled about in her head.

"No, I don't!" he screamed but all she could see were the bubbles spilling from him. But his message suddenly broke through the lack of oxygen and she pushed herself up to the surface.

When their heads were safely above the waves, they could hear Potter and Black's frozen shouts from the bank. They screamed insults at Snape in outrage at being pushed in; they were only helping his little girlfriend after all. Severus suddenly started yelling at Hermione, his breath finally back.

"This is what I get for going all bloody Gryffindor on you?" his face was stretched in fury. His eyes were narrowed and he glared at her with anger as he struggled to tread water. "You wanted to fucking kill yourself!"

-

"Severus?" the two sat shivering in thick white towels as they waited outside Professor Dumbledore's office. Black and Potter were inside trying to justify why they pushed a student in to a frozen lake and it was their turn soon. Snape looked at her through the icy wet hair that had fallen infront of his eyes.

"Yes?" his angry tone hadn't died yet. But she guessed it would once he was in some clean, dry robes and had a pepper-up potion inside of him.

"Do you really want to know why I can't be touched?" he looked at her suspiciously and wrapped his towel tighter around himself.

"Of course."

"Magic." He scowled at her and shuffled his spindly chair away from hers.

"You insufferable little…"

"Magic sent me back." The previous suspicious one replaced his angry look and he peered at her through narrowed eyes.

"Back where?"

"Here." He rolled his eyes at her in annoyance.

"From where?"

"Here." He growled low in his throat and looked away from her to the gargoyles guarding Dumbledore's office.

"Stop being purposely annoying…"

"Magic sent me back here in time." The comment was made in such a low whisper that Snape had to strain his ears to hear her. As it registered in his brain his eyes widened.

-

A.N - What a lovely little cliffhanger. I know what happens which is a rather nice feeling. I will probably update again this weekend when I am trying to avoid revision.

_**By the way **_do people prefer the shorter sentences I use now then the long ones I used to? I realised they were the reason my stories always sounded so rushed.

Thanks for reading and I would love reviews to make my joints feel better from all this typing :P.


	5. Chapter 5

"Do you really think I'm that stupid? I'll bet I was spitting out spells before you could write your own name." Snape stood up roughly from his chair and glared down at her. "I'm going for a walk. Tell Dumbledore I'll explain my pathetic action in saving you later."

"Snape! Stop. Come back." Hermione jumped up from her chair and ran down the corridor after his quickly retreating figure. "Please! I'm serious. Let me explain." He didn't pause and Hermione pulled her towel tighter around her middle before sprinting forward. "Snape, I don't think you're stupid! Don't act like it wouldn't explain everything!" His footsteps appeared to be slowing. Hermione remained silent as she ran the last few metres to catch up to him.

"It **would** explain your freakish nature." Hermione scowled at him in annoyance. His head turned slightly to face her as they walked back to the stone gargoyles. Hermione was shocked by his sudden rational acceptance. "In fact it's fairly plausible if one really thinks about it." Hermione's scowl melted away and she smiled happily at him.

"I'm so glad you believe me…"

"Oh, I don't believe you." The smile died. She raised an eyebrow at him in question as they resumed their seats, waiting for Dumbledore. "You have no proof…"

"Proof?" Hermione moved her hand through his arm and wiggled her fingers behind him. "This is not proof?" he raised a calculating eyebrow.

"There could be many reasons…"

"I came back in time, Snape." He ignored her and continued,

"But time travel was not one of my hypotheses." Hermione lent back on her chair and crossed her arms, ready to wait him out.

"Well it wouldn't be one of mine." She admitted to him. Snape stared with a furrowed brow across the hallway at the stone wall. They sat in silence as his academic mind dissected the situation.

Hermione picked at a hangnail in boredom as she wondered if there would be any jacket potatoes at dinner. Snape had been thinking for five minutes and Black and Potter were still in Dumbledore's office, leaving her with nothing to do.

"You appeared out of nowhere." Snape's deep drawl broke her out of her boredom. He was looking at her again. A curious expression pulled his eyebrows down and opened his eyes with wonder.

"Yes." Hermione agreed, happy to use her voice again.

"No one can touch you."

"Correct."

"You manipulate your surroundings."

"Yes." Snape looked at her, speculating. He motioned for her to stand up. A long pale hand reached out and touched the back of the chair she had rested on.

"Warm. How… interesting." Hermione's lip quirked as Snape pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill from his bag. With an inkpot resting on his knee, he began to take notes. "This calls for experiments." He told her casually not looking up. Hermione laughed sourly.

"I am not a potions experiment."

"Well no." he motioned for her to resume her seat. "If anything you're a Dark Arts experiment." His head suddenly whipped down and he looked at her feet, resting clothed in her leather shoes on the floor. "You touch the floor… so do I… yet I haven't fallen to my death." Hermione's eyebrows knitted together as she assessed this fact with him.

"Maybe it's because I'm wearing shoes."

"It can't be. Your feet are touching them making them untouchable and yet you don't even fall through the floor either." Hermione pursed her lips and shifted in her chair, suddenly afraid that she would tumble down to the next floor.

"Objects travel through your clothes as well as your actual body and you can steal touch away from things that other people are holding." He scowled at this, obviously remembering when she made his robes fall through him after a particularly mean remark. "And yet…"

"Look, you have obviously given this a lot of thought already. I also apparently am not a part of this conversation, so I'm just going to ignore you now." Snape didn't pause in his musings and Hermione turned back to her fingernails and jacket potato pondering.

Thankfully heavy footsteps suddenly came running down the stairs to Dumbledore's Office. Black and Potter appeared by the gargoyles, successfully cutting of Severus.

"Your turn, losers."

-

"_Yes, they are definitely shagging_." The frantic shushing created by the death glare from Snape was as irritating as the remarks. It seemed that because of Snape's heroic actions in the lake, the entire school had decided Hermione and Snape were a couple.

There were only so many rumours someone could take before they lost the will to live. Snape knew this from experience and seeing as he didn't want a repeat performance of the pebbles in Hermione's pockets he was trying to curb the gossip. But the remarks from the group of girls at the back of the Potions classroom were starting again. Although this time they were in a slightly more positive light.

"_Quite sweet really_."

"_You all realise, that could have been Lily, right_?"

"_No it couldn't. Potter would never push Lily in the lake_."

"_Not that part! The having Snape being a gentleman for her_."

"_We need more of those…"_

"_Guys! Snape, remember_?" the retches coming from the girls when they realised who they were talking about was quite humorous to Hermione. But her actual laughter didn't come until Snape snapped a stirring rod in two when one girl commented on just how '_huge! He must be!_'

The loud guffaws Hermione made Snape's scowl darkened further. She lent lightly on the desk with one hand as her body rocked with chuckles.

"Huge!" she whipped her eyes with mirth at the girls' idolisation of him. But something nagged away at the back of her mind. Something deep inside knew he really was the perfect Byronic hero. **(1)**

"Shut up, Granger, or I'll hex you."

"But Snape! We're shagging apparently! How could you do that to your 'lover'?" Snape glared menacingly, and turned his wand on her.

"Does the gossip really not bother you?" Hermione calmed slowly, but still clung to the table for support for her aching ribs.

"I've had worse. You will not believe the comments I got because of Harry." Snape logged away the name in his memory. The boy seemed to be brought up in conversation every now and again and he supposed he would be something to muse on later.

"_Bloody ugly though. She's rather plain too. I wonder what they're arguing about._" Hermione shook her head at the gossip and returned to her potion. Fully recovered from her laughter.

Snape tapped his wand against the stirring rod and waved the glass stick in the air slightly to check it was fully healed. The pale light of the dungeons caught in the rod. He didn't know if it was because it sparkled, successfully catching the girls' attention again but before he could lower the rod he heard.

"_Longer or shorter then his…_?"

-

The grounds were covered in snow, a result of the impending winter holidays. They were due to start in only a few days and Hermione couldn't wait. The animals were hibernating and the students were attempting to, safe inside warm common rooms and dorms. But averse to staying inside and socialising Hermione and Severus were walking across the grounds.

"So, are we friends now?" Hermione asked suddenly, her head tilted to the side in curiosity. (A trait which they both seemed to have an insane amount of.) She asked because over the couple of days since Severus had found out about her trip back in time, they had been spending even more time together.

"I guess." It was a perfect situation, where two very similar people who did not have anything else to do could be pushed together out of loneliness. Snape saw her as someone to talk to about his ideas and to experiment on of course. But Hermione had a more traditional reason to spend time with him – she had grown bored of being alone.

"Groovy." Snape threw her an exasperated look. But Hermione only grinned through the material of her thick scarf, happy to use the annoying slang word in the right timeframe. He tightened his own worn scarf around his neck and they pushed on through the snow.

"I still think you're a freak." Hermione nodded mildly at his borderline mean comment.

"Hmm, I can't say I blame you."

-

The snow had officially driven the duo inside by the beginning of the winter holidays. They had taken to sitting in an abandoned classroom on the fifth floor. It was a compromise, really: they couldn't go outside; it would be absurd to even think of the Slytherine common rooms and they guessed Dumbledore would frown upon them holing themselves up in her room.

"I'm bored." Hermione said in an empty tone. All of her homework was done and she hadn't had the time to check out a new library book. Severus was lying across a group of tables in a long line, his book suspended in the air above his face. Hermione moved away from the window to watch his eyes flicker across the text.

"Piss off then." Snape said slowly, trying not to lose his place on the text.

"What are you reading." Snape concentrated harder.

"Piss off." He said quickly, his eyes freezing on a word to stop them wandering. Hermione sat on the edge of the table and swung her up until she was lying next to him. She mused silently that they would probably be touching if it were possible.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked, outraged that she was invading his personal space. Scandalised his eyes tore away from his book and he stared open-mouthed at her.

"Reading." She said, the grin in her voice audible. She shuffled closer and stared out at the book.

"Freak." He hissed, turning back to page and lamenting his lost place.

"Bat."

-

"Where are you going." Any normal person would have jumped out of their skin. But then, any normal person would have screamed and pulled their wand upon seeing Hermione walk through what was apparently a black stretch of wall as well. Snape was not normal though. He barely looked at her before continuing his journey. Hermione eyed the threadbare jumper and Slytherine pyjama bottoms – the only things protecting him from the elements. A pillow was clutched tightly in his arms and she wondered how no teacher had spotted him yet.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked, with a false casual air, trying to shrug her off.

"Well you're walking around the castle at midnight in nothing but pyjamas, and that's not the way to your dorm." Snape stopped and looked at her in exasperation. But dutifully he suppressed the sarcastic remark on the tip of his tongue and turned to her.

"I'm going to find somewhere else to sleep." He continued on this way down the Transfiguration corridor.

"Any particular reason why?" Hermione walked along casually beside him also clad in other a nightie **(2) **and a jumper.

"No." Hermione sighed underneath her breath and stopped. He looked back at her curiously and paused too.

"Come on then." She turned and started walking back the way they had come.

"What?" the perplexed look on his face she saw when looking back over her shoulder was satisfying.

"You're staying with me." Severus' mouth dropped open in shock.

"But you don't even know why I'm not going to my own dorm!" he protested. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him and beckoned with a crook of her index finger.

"So?"

Minutes later they emerged at the entrance of Hermione's room. She didn't stop to look back at him before walking straight through the suit of armour guarding it. Snape stared suspiciously at the heavy metal and didn't move from his spot. A crooked finger suddenly appeared through the helmet and Hermione beckoned him inside. Cautiously Snape stepped forward and put out a hand to the armour. Shock at his hand passing through flooded his system and he stepped through, body tense, waiting to hit something solid.

He emerged in a small, airy common room and watched a house elf disaperate from Hermione's side. The light blues of the room complemented her nightdress and Snape couldn't stop himself marvelling at the way her long bushy hair sparkled in the moonlight.

"I just sent Dobby for some tea." She crossed a light blue rug to avoid the cold of the floorboards on her way to the fireplace. A mumbled incedio later and flames were licking up the chimney. "I know it's not wise to drink tea before bed but I am freezing!" Severus turned to stare, still confused at a counter-part suit of armour.

"I see you're not the only strange thing around here then." He motioned towards the metal guard and shook his head with confusion. Hermione followed his hand and looked at the suit of armour with mingled amusement and contempt.

"Oh yes. I think it was Dumbledore's way of being ironic…" absent-mindedly Hermione beckoned him to follow her and passed through a small door. Snape followed quietly, wondering where she was taking him. A blush stained his cheeks when he emerged through the doorframe and found himself in the centre of her bedroom. The setting was pathetically Hermione: light and airy, big windows, cottage furniture **(3) **and a small little bed with a dark cover and sheets. It was here that Severus spotted her, lying innocently across it with her eyes closed. Averting his gaze, Severus guessed she wasn't aware of how the position caused her nightdress to ride up her thighs.

An eye cracked open and Hermione surveyed Severus as his cheeks drained of their pink tinge and he stared determinedly at her bedside table. She looked down at her bed with the realisation that there would be nowhere for him to sit but there. Her common room was too empty and hard for them to be comfortable in and there was the also the problem that it only had one armchair and a small desk chair to its name. Hermione looked at the floor in contemplation. She decided with a few well-placed charms it may be decent enough to sleep on. But, with a small smile she mused that the bed would be the best place for him at first. She sat up and pushed herself to the end of the bed. By drawing up the covers around herself, she left the dark blue sheets for Snape to sit on.

It would effectively stop him from falling through the bed and make him comfortable enough.

"You'll have to sit on my sheet, I'm afraid. Otherwise we may have the problem of you falling through the framework." Snape looked at her with wide, borderline terrified eyes. She noted with bemusement that the pink tinge was back.

"No. That's okay. I can sit on the floor." Hermione stretched her legs out in front of herself, making sure not to touch the sheets.

"Snape, I don't have the energy to argue so just sit on the damn sheets." His mumbled words and the frantic fiddling of his fingers showed how uncomfortable he was as he sat carefully on her bed. A loud creak sounded as he drew up his legs around him and he cringed lightly. "You're very strange sometimes, Severus."

"Shut up, freak." Hermione sat up on her knees and lent across him to grab the books on her bedside table. Severus pushed himself back into the sheets and the wall behind her bed, forcing himself not to look as her nightie rode up her thighs again.

"Here." She handed him a potion book and then settled back onto her cover, her legs crossed neatly. Severus couldn't help but wonder silently just how insane it was for him to want to touch her _this _much.

"I want to go swimming." It had been an unspoken agreement that neither of the duo could sleep, so Hermione hadn't hesitated in falling into her textbook. But now the library book was finished, dawn was far off and Hermione was bored. She tore her eyes away from the glimmer of the candle, lighting the room for them, and looked at Severus.

"Good for you. Have fun." Snape said quietly, not bothering to look up from his book. Hermione narrowed her eyes as his eyes flickered on over the text.

"Come on, then." Severus calmly marked his place with one long white finger and looked up at scandalised.

"Merlin, you were being serious?"

Hermione once again showed her extreme power for making him do what she wanted and soon they were standing on the pier. Snape hugged his old jumper to himself and looked at Hermione with an expression that questioned her sanity.

"It's almost completely frozen over!" Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled her wand from her sleeve. She pointed it at Snape and placed a heavy charm on him.

"There, you big cry baby. That will keep you warm." After repeating the spell on herself Hermione wrapped her fingers around the hem of her stripy jumper. Snape continued to watch her with a frown on her face. Hermione raised her eyebrows and made an upward motion with her arm. Severus continued to look at her with a clueless expression.

"Turn around." He was thoroughly confused now.

"Excuse me?" he asked, the perplexed look on his face amusing Hermione greatly.

"Turn around." She said continued with a stubborn edge. He raised an eyebrow in question.

"Why…?" she tugged the jumper over her head, hoping he would get the message. "Oh my god, you're taking your clothes off!" Hermione laughed dryly and replied obstinately.

"Yes, and if you were a gentlemen you would turn around." His next words escaped his mouth before he could catch them. He mused afterwards that it was probably something to do with the weather and the tantalising question of what lay under the cloth nightdress.

"Maybe I'm not a gentlemen." Her laugh at least made the comment slightly less embarrassing. For at least she didn't take too much offence.

"Pervert." But it was still a _rather_ large blow. He had tried to be gentlemanly from the very start because it was a trait his mother had instilled in him from birth. Except all of a sudden all of his manners were trying to run away and watch his best friend undress. Severus closed his eyes from a mixture of shame and decorum. "No peeking." Her voice suddenly sounded far away and he resisted the urge to check she hadn't deserted him. But Hermione had given him no reason not to trust her, so trust her he must. **(4) "**You can open your eyes." The two black orbs snapped open with the speed of a comet so he could watch as a figure of white skin and blue lace dropped into the dark water. Severus suppressed the urge to whisper his thanks to Merlin, deducing that was a much too marauder like thing to do. He stripped off quickly and ran forward to the end of the pier. He bent at the knees and dived into the waves.

Hermione was right – whatever spell she had used protected him from the elements surrounding him down in the water. Severus suddenly spotted a pair of long white legs only a couple of feet to his left. He pushed himself up towards the surface and emerged to breathe in the fresh night air.

"Show off." Hermione said, obviously talking about his dive. Severus smirked and hoped she couldn't see him properly in the darkness.

"Oh that? That was nothing." It was times like that when he hoped she couldn't see right through his attempts to impress her.

Hermione's curls were pushed back from her face and the moonlight shimmered on her wet skin. Trying to pretend that their close proximity didn't effect him Snape smiled casually at her.

"Thanks." Hermione suddenly said quietly, Severus raised an eyebrow in question.

"For what?"

"For coming with me." He nodded in the darkness with resolution; he could trust her. Of course he could trust her.

"There's a death eater meeting in the dorm tonight." Hermione's breath hitched and she paddled slightly closer so she could see his face more clearly.

"Oh." The small word of comfort she tried to say apparently encouraged him, because Severus continued.

"Yes… I don't know how much longer I can avoid the mark."

"Oh." The urge to touch him was almost painful. It was consuming her; she needed to comfort him somehow. Severus suddenly looked desperate; his hand emerged from the water and dusted along where her cheek should be.

"Please, promise you will never hate me." The idea had never occurred to her. But then the entire conversation was mind-boggling and it didn't help that he was a vision of misery as they trod water together. Hermione's mind swung back and forth between what she knew about her professor in the future. He was lonely, angry and a death eater. There was also the small problem of his contempt for her.

"I promise." She said anyway with a tiny smile, now was not the time to worry about such things after all.

The sun was coming up as Hermione and Severus returned to her room and collapsed, exhausted on her bed. Severus yawned and buried his head in her pillow. They were lying side by side; Hermione wrapped up in the quilt, separating them.

"I would have got more sleep in a cupboard in the dungeons."

"Probably." Hermione said sleepily as she nuzzled into her elbow, ready to finally fall asleep. Suddenly Severus reached out and passed his hand through her head. "Oi!" Hermione shouted outraged, the shock of his sudden movement sent her falling backwards off of the bed. She landed with a dull thunk, still wrapped up in the quilt.

"It was too much to resist. I'm sorry?" Hermione resisted the urge to pout as she untangled herself from the floor. She pulled her robe tight around her nearly bare body and motioned for him to sit up. Severus groaned in protest but responded and pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"You better be." Hermione said, still smarting from the shock. She sat at the far end of the bed and glared at him in her dulling fury.

"I just don't understand it." He said, frustrated he stared at her pulling on a lock of straight black hair, trying to think, "It's like how you manipulate your surroundings, for example pick things up…"

"Yes, most people can." Hermione interrupted, but he ignored her comment and continued on. It was okay though; Hermione had learnt long ago that she really wasn't a part of these conversations.

"… Yet people can't touch you."

"Yes. I'm aware of this." Although she may not be a real participant in the conversation it was still fun to interrupt him. Snape suddenly lunged forward and passed his hand through her stomach. "Stop doing that!" Hermione screamed at him and tried to bat him away even though she knew it was impossible.

"You're robes become untouchable too. But I can touch them when you aren't. Is there a time delay of how long it takes? Because I've thrown things through you when you weren't looking, Hermione. Do you think…" Hermione blustered in fury.

"You've been doing that too?" she glared at him where he sat on his knees nearly directly on her quilt.

"Have you tried walking through walls?" Hermione blushed, remembering the large bruise she had on her forehead for a week. "I don't understand!" Severus pulled on his hair again in frustration. "It doesn't make sense!" Hermione clambered up onto her knees as well and tried to look Severus directly in the face in an attempt to calm him down.

"Severus! Stop it! Severus?" long thin black hairs were coming away from his head and Hermione gasped realising he was literally pulling his hair out with frustration. "Severus!"

"I don't understand. This is impossible! None of my hypotheses work!" Hermione momentarily stopped caring about his wellbeing as he treated her like a lab rat again.

"I have told you, I am not an experiment!" Severus flapped his hand in her, obviously trying to shush her as she thought.

"Yes, I know but…" a sudden glint sprang up in his eyes and warily Hermione tried to back away, but the only place to go was an all too solid wall. Snape suddenly pulled his jumper off leaving him on nothing but a pair of damp boxers.

"Snape!" she said scandalised, as he shuffled closer to her on the bed. Hermione didn't stop to muse on how funny they must have looked, standing on their knees on her bed shuffling. He covered his hand with the robe and reached out. Disappointment flooded his face as he passed through and the jumper stayed outside of her body.

"See, that makes no sense! How can some things go through but others not… wait, is it you that can't be touched? Or is it you manipulating others so they can't be touched." Hermione pushed herself flat against the wall, pushing her legs out from underneath her body so she could sit down and pretend to be small. Severus didn't notice as her legs passed through the gap in-between his, where he knelt staring at her in frustration.

"That's a load of nonsense, Snape." Severus shook his head from side to side frantically.

"No, no it's now…" he started to protest and probably launch into a new speech but Hermione stopped him with one raised finger.

"Professor Dumbledore says my odd time travel is the reason I am not tangible. It's the fact that I am not completely here which makes me untouchable and I guess things just adapt to me… this is stupid. I never want to talk about this again because all you do is scare me." He looked at her; obviously ready to continue so Hermione moved the finger she had used to silence him closer to his stomach. "Another word and it's bye-bye boxers, Snape. Now get off my bed." He scrambled off of the covers and sat forlornly on the cold floorboards. Taking pity Hermione threw him her second pillow and eiderdown.

She clambered across her bed towards her pillow and dived in under her covers. She sat up and blew the candle on her bedside table out, shielding them in darkness. Severus' voice suddenly climbed out of the darkness.

"Like how this smells like you! But how is that possible when you're not really…"

"Go to sleep, Snape."

-

"Why would someone get me a present?" Hermione stared at him blankly. Snape's cynical nature it seemed, spread to something even as lovely as giving gifts at Christmas.

"I seriously can't believe that you are _that_ much of a dark person." Snape looked at her dryly.

"I'm sorry. Have we not met?" Hermione sighed and thrust the badly wrapped gift into his arms.

"I told you to look under the damn tree so I wouldn't have to do that! It's from me." Her teeth ground together as she wondered why she bothered in the first place. "Merry Christmas." Long pale fingers wrapped around the package and Snape looked at her with a strange look on his face. But in a split second the slight smile was gone and his face had resumed its blankness. Slightly shaking fingers pulled at the brown string holding the present together. "You could say thank you." Hermione proposed haughtily. He looked up with raised eyebrows from the yellow paper.

"But I don't know what it is yet." Hermione bit her tongue to stop from demanding the package back, suddenly her 'perfect idea' felt really stupid. The yellow paper fell to the floor and Snape stared down at the charcoal grey jumper. Hermione blushed when he refused to say anything and continued to stare at the woollen clothing.

"Well, I noticed that you only really had one jumper and it was sort of falling apart and didn't really match any of your clothes anyway. So I thought I would knit you one…" her embarrassed rambling was broken off suddenly by Snape. Who had pushed all of his Christmas breakfast things out of the way, to enable him to lay the jumper down on a clear table.

"Thank you." His voice cracked. Hermione wondered whether it was with emotion of simply because the annoying teenager had never bothered to say it to anyone properly before. His voice was probably not used to it if the later was true. "It's really…" he stopped and laid one hand on the jumper and Hermione grinned, taking that as acceptance. Then in front of a table of professors and other students who hadn't gone home for Christmas, Severus Snape tore off his jumper. But to avoid revealing a threadbare greying shirt underneath Snape changed into his present quickly. "It's really… er"

"You're welcome." Hermione said happily. His shocked look told her he really did like his present. Snape suddenly seemed to snap out of it and he began to fish in the pockets of his trousers. He pulled out a piece of paper and dropped it on her lap.

"I didn't know what to do for a friend at Christmas so I made you this." Hermione opened the paper with trepidation. In his spidery scrawl was the nicest thing he had ever done for her.

Hermione Granger's Bookmark

_N/vb_

_Libernota_

_-For those times when you have so many books lying around and you never have enough bookmarks because you're such an insufferable know-it-all._

_-It's nothing interesting but it was made specially._

Hermione tried to suppress the mist in her eyes and she smiled happily at Snape.

"This is the most decent thing you have ever done for me." Snape looked up quickly from smelling his new jumper. He smirked darkly.

"Don't worry I won't make a habit of it."

"I would never think of it."

-

Hermione had taken to wandering around the castle at night when she couldn't sleep. It was the first night of the New Year and Hermione was walking around the Entrance Hall, trying to exhaust herself enough to fall asleep. But there was another reason for her silent vigil of the front doors. Nearly two hours ago she had watched Severus scurry across the school grounds with a group of Slytherines and apparate beyond the gates. He wasn't back yet.

A sudden creaking noise filled the Entrance Hall and the Slytherines swarmed in with gleeful faces. Severus was trailing along at the back. There was a flash of a death eater mask as one of the Slytherines stowed a long black robe away in his bag. Hermione's wand raised and she pointed it silently at Snape's own bag and at her whispered spell it ripped open. The others seventh years left him to pick up his things alone and once she could no longer hear their footsteps she rushed out of the shadows.

"Hermione?" she wanted to fling herself into his arms at his shocked and vulnerable look.

"Where were you?" she asked quietly, his face hardened and he pulled his fixed bag onto his shoulder.

"Where do you think?" he asked coldly and started to walk away from her.

"You didn't tell me!" her accusing tone made him stop and he glared at her through the dark atmosphere of the Entrance Hall.

"Yeah? And you promised me that you wouldn't hate me!" Hermione scowled and started walking forward.

"I don't hate you I…"

"I can see it in your bloody eyes, Granger. You're 'disappointed' and soon that will lead to contempt and then to bloody fear. Like everyone else." Hermione resisted the urge to stomp her foot in fury.

"That's not true! I will never hate you; I promised. I'm just worried." He turned away from her again and walked up the staircase. He didn't bother to look back as he yelled.

"Just go to bed." The 'where you'll be safe' that he wanted to finish the sentence with remained in his head as he fully digested the news. They wanted Hermione. They wanted her and they were going to use him to get to her.

-

A.N That took me quite a while (on and off for three days because my dad insists on kicking me off the computer every fifteen minutes) I hope you enjoyed it and please review because they really make my day.

So Snape knows they want her which is nice, I do really rather love him in this chapter which means I didn't write him very well. But I don't care because I should have started my Physics revision instead of doing this, so I'm partially numb.

Sorry about the extreme footnote usage.

**(1) **A Byronic hero is an idealised but flawed character found first in Lord Byron's literature. The concept is pretty much based on him. Snape really is the perfect Byronic hero because they typically have high level intelligence, perception and cunning. They are also generally mysterious, magnetic, struggling with integrity, troubled with bipolar tendencies, have a distaste for social institutions, are outcasts, have a troubled past, are arrogant and cynical and exhibit self-destructive behaviour. (To name just a _few_) Check it out on wikipedia. Where I just found out about it... not sure how I got on the page though.

Somehow it makes him even sexier.

**(2) **Is that actually a word? It's what I have always called them and yet…)

**(3) **Wooden furniture painted white, which upper class Victorians deemed acceptable for their little girls to have in their rooms. This was about the time when the colour pink was more for boys, which I rather love the idea of.

**(4) **I'm sorry at this point I realised my narrative had become rather Stephen Fry like (see still is as I type this) I think I have used the word "for" atleast three times in that paragraph alone already.


	6. Chapter 6

Darkness consumed the library as they worked together in the middle of the night. Striving to meet a coursework deadline that was looming much too close. Shadows licked up bookcases full of heavy first editions and the moon shone in through a long bay window at the end of the long dusty room. Severus and Hermione sat, noses buried in their books tucked away in a corner of the Charms section. The moonlight reflected off the yellowing pages and Severus yawned staring down at the text. Candlelight flickered around them and out of the corner of his eye he saw Hermione rub her eyes with exhaustion.

"Can you pass the coffee?" Hermione whispered; they were trying desperately to remain hidden from any teachers out for a midnight stroll. Severus picked up the flask the house elves had lent him and poured some of the black liquid into her outstretched mug. In his tired state another yawn rocked through his body and bumped his wrist against her hand. Severus froze as the successful contact settled in.

"How did…?" Hermione's whispered shock didn't compute as Severus reached out with a trembling hand. A gasp tumbled out of his mouth as his fingers brushed against her warm cheek. Severus stumbled to his feet, euphoria ripping through him. He found Hermione's hands and pulled up, they stood only mere inches apart and Severus stared open mouthed at all of the skin he could touch. He laced the fingers of their still joined hands in wonderment. Hermione's happy smile encouraged him to continue.

"Severus." Hermione whispered with excitement. He reached up and tucked a stray wild curl behind her ear, awe-struck he nodded in agreement.

Months of confusion and need suddenly boiled over inside of Severus. His brain shut down as he tangled one of his hands in the curls falling around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Severus?" He ignored the question as their eyes fluttered shut and he moved forward. Their lips finally touched. Trembling arms wrapped around his neck as he curled his own arm around her robed waist, pulling her even closer. Instinct made up for lack of technique in the first area ever in Severus' entire life. He felt Hermione's fingers entangle themselves in his short hair. A passage from a book passed around the dorm in his third year sprang suddenly to mind. He opened his mouth tentatively. Brushing his tongue against her bottom lip, he tried to remember the instructions but as Hermione's mouth opened and she mewled delicately into his mouth even his own name flew from his head.

Minutes passed, and Severus couldn't bear to untangle himself from Hermione. He couldn't believe he could finally do something productive about her. His head was whirling in a mixture of happiness, anticipation and pride. But the biggest emotion circling was gratitude that she hadn't run for the hills the second he touched her.

Severus suddenly realised he was having quite a lot of trouble suppressing the moans she was nearly pulling from him. With renewed resolution he concentrated hard to remain silent every time she mewled into his mouth. His brain felt warm and fuzzy, from this he deduced it wasn't really his mind that told him to do what he did next. For suddenly he pulled back, sparing only one quick glance for Hermione. He took in her closed eyes and weak knees before he grabbed his wand and banished the contents of their table. Soon Hermione was sitting on the tabletop and was safely back in his arms.

"Severus…" In another act of instinct he slowly pushed her backward against the wood and climbed up to kneel between her knees. Managing to stay level-headed his hands inched towards the buttons of her blouse…

"**Snape! **Wake up!" Severus jolted in his seat and his eyes snapped open. Hermione stood above him, her hands on her hips as she glared playfully down at him. "Thank you! The book I need is on the top shelf. Your help, please" He watched her walk away, his mind clouded by his daydreams. The midday sun was streaming in to the library and his head hurt. Suppressing a groan he stood from his chair clumsily. He linked his fingers above his head and stretched his back, wishing the real Hermione were as quiet as the one in his head every now and again.

They sat back at their table a few minutes later, Hermione's nose already buried in the new book. Severus tapped his quill slowly against his essay and stared down at the passage he had just written, trying to think of information to pad it out.

"Well that's wrong." Hermione's scoff at his work and the comment made him drop the quill and glare at her. Hermione smiled innocently and pointed to the sentence she had read over his shoulder.

"I have told you before a dozen times: laughter is the…"

"And I have told **you **a dozen times: that has not been proven to…"

"Oi you!" Hermione interrupted him and caught a wandering Remus Lupin's attention.

"Who me?" Severus bristled at being ignored, but Hermione ignored him and nodded encouragingly to a weary Lupin. Remus walked over to them with trepidation and greeted them casually.

"Granger. Snape." Hermione flashed him a friendly smile before dragging him by his coat tails into their ongoing debate.

"You're good at Defence, aren't you?" Severus snorted and looked at Remus, condescension clear on his face.

"I guess." Remus said with a suspicious look,

"Then you can settle a little _dispute _between Severus and I. How do you finish off a Boggart?" Severus scowled lazily up at Remus, as he looked even wearier.

"Laughter." Hermione made a noise of pleased exclamation that made them both jump.

"**M'ha!**"

Severus looked at her incredulously.

"What the hell does that…"

Hermione interrupted him again and grinned happily up at Remus.

"Thank you! In your face Severus!" Severus tried to hold onto his dismissal of her idea but her happy face was wearing him down.

"I still don't think…"

"Give up." Her blunt comment infuriated him, but he grudgingly let her have her win.

"Whatever." Remus was still standing above them looking curious and amused. He opened his mouth to comment when someone cut him off.

"Mooney? What are you doing with Snivellus and his girlfriend?" Hermione rolled her eyes at Sirius.

"I'm sorry. Were we stealing your wife away from you? Ever so sorry for all the pain and misery this must have caused." He raised an eyebrow at her and turned to Snape, waiting for an insult.

"Not my girlfriend." He mumbled with the air of a sulking child.

"Right…" Sirius said, rather confused at Severus' lack of a response. He and Remus started to walk away.

"Thanks again, Lupin. You were a big help." A frazzled Sirius suddenly dragged the confused sandy-hared boy away from them; afraid their strange ways would influence him.

Hermione and Severus sat in a comfortable silence finishing their essays, Severus now with something to pad his out. He reached into his pocket as he read through his work and pulled out a sugar quill. He snapped it in half and dropped the bottom part onto her textbook.

"Snape, do you hug people?" her random question made him jump and his teeth crunched his half of the sugar quill to dust.

"What the hell?" he asked, scandalised at her absurdity. Hermione laughed at his reaction and sucked thoughtfully on her sweet.

"I was just wondering if you were the type, is all." He glared at her with suspicion and answered bluntly.

"I'm not."

"I used to be." She said quietly, thinking back to all of the hugs she would share with Ron and Harry.

"Good for you." He hissed through his teeth and turned back to his essay, uncomfortable with the conversation.

"I miss physical contact." Hermione said wistfully, she had dropped her quill and was staring out of the window sadly. Severus suppressed his insane urge to comfort her.

"Well, when you go back you can hug as many people as you want." Hermione looked at him, frustrated with his answer. How was that supposed to solve her problems?

"But the only person I want to hug right now is you!"

"What?" he sneered at her and shuffled his chair away slightly.

"Don't be freaked out, but you're closest thing I have to a best friend, right now." He stared at her silently and shuffled back. With awkward movements he tried to give her a friendly smile but failed. He settled for a slightly calm smirk.

"If I could, I guess, I wouldn't mind hugging you, maybe." Hermione smiled gratefully at him.

"Aww, ruffle your hair." Severus' face dropped and his expressionless features made her laugh.

"Excuse me?"

"Please! It's what I would have done if I could."

"I'm not going to ruffle my…" Hermione thought the urge to pout and instead let her own face drop. Severus took one look at the dead look in her eyes and scowled. Infuriated he reached up and ruffled his hair for a fraction of a second. Afterwards he ripped his hand back to his side and tried to look manly by puffing his chest out and scowling even more.

"Aww, thank you. Would you mind hugging yourself?"

"Forget it."

"Okay." The situation suddenly caught up with Hermione and she stated laughing uncontrollably. Severus sunk low into his seat as she began to attract attention to herself.

"What?" he hissed through a clenched jaw. **"What**?" he asked again, furious that she was ignoring him.

"I…" she howled with laughter and clutched her sides, "I just… realised… I made… I made professor Snape… ruffle his hair." She snorted and wiped the tears forming at the corners of her eyes away. An image of her moody Potions teacher doing such an undignified act swam around behind her eyes.

"Professor Snape?" his incredulous voice broke through her mirth. The laughter stopped abruptly.

"Crap?" Severus jumped to his feet.

"Come." Disregarding their stuff, he stormed out of the library with her hot on his heels. They emerged in the corridor and he continued walking down the hall. First years scattered at his angry face, only needing a bark of two from him to send them running for safety. He stopped outside of a broom cupboard and wrenched the door open. "In." he said curtly, Hermione passed him and walked into the darkness of the cupboard. Severus looked both ways down the corridor in suspicion and then slammed the door behind him. They were clouded in darkness. But after a sharp wave of his wand, light burst from the tip and Hermione could see him again. "Sit." Hermione quickly sat down on an upturned bucket and stared up at him expectantly. "Talk." Hermione sucked in a large breath and looked him dead in the eye.

"I know you in the future." He threw her a patronising look and started to pace in the small space he had in the cupboard.

"I sort of figured that one out actually. But, I'm your teacher?" A certain daydream was flooding his senses and he groaned. Soon he found himself leaning back against the wood of the door. But it took a tally of all his daydreams to actually send him sliding down it to the floor. He put his head in his hands and groaned again. "Pervert." He mumbled into his palms in accusation.

"What?" Hermione asked, unable to hear him. She slid from the bucket and sat on the dusty floor in front at his heels. He looked up at her with agonised eyes and shook his head, telling her she didn't want to know. Another wave of how disgusting he was hit.

"Oh my God! I'm your teacher!" he shouted desperation sinking in. "How old am I? I can't believe I never thought about this! I mean, you're from the future! Of course you could have known me… But I thought about everything!" she looked at him sadly and bit her lip.

"I'm not really sure how old you are. But I would say you're probably thirty-six or thirty-seven, at a guess." He howled in horror and buried his head in his hands again. She nodded in agreement. Long pale fingers separated and he looked at her through the white digits.

"Oh my God!" he yelled again, Hermione nodded in sympathy.

"I know." She soothed, trying to calm him down. "If it makes you feel any better you're older self is going to cut me up and use me as potion ingredients for making friends with you."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You hate me." She answered simply.

"That was supposed to make me feel **better**?" Hermione looked thoughtful for a second.

"Hmm, I guess I didn't really think it through."

"I'm old." He whispered, still horrified. Hermione looked at him with apprehension.

"You really never thought about this? I mean, come on! I'm from the future…"  
"I know." He made the strange howling noise again into his hands.

"Such a pervert."

"What?"  
"Such a bloody pervert." His anger shone through as he hissed through his teeth. It was muffled, but now they were closer Hermione could just make it out.

"I'm sorry, but what? I mean, unless I didn't notice some kind of sexual relationship…"

"No!" he shouted, he shook his head frantically from side to side. "But you have no idea how often I have fantasised about kissing you!" Hermione screamed and shook her own head.

"No! You can't say things like that!" Severus pulled his legs up to his chest and hid his face in his knees.

"I know! I'm disgusting." Hermione shook her head in disagreement and wished she could pull his head up to meet his eyes.

"No, it's just that saying things like that make this so much worse."

"I know." Hermione thrust her hand through his leg and he looked at it glumly.

"See! You saying that makes it even more impossible to not want to touch you." Severus looked at her, calculating what she meant. He shuffled over to the side of the door and she sat down next to him.

They stared at their hands, uncomfortable with everything that had come to light. Suddenly Severus got up and stared down at her, he cancelled the spell shooting light from his wand.  
"Come on."

They walked down to the lake in silence and sat at the edge of the water. Spring had definitely sprung and there were signs of life in its murky depths. It was too cold for anyone sane to go swimming but Hermione lay on her stomach and dragged her hand along the surface. Severus sat next to her on the hard ground and watched the ripples she was making.

"What do we do now?" she asked, quietly. Severus shifted onto his back and stared up at the clouds.

"I don't know." Hermione turned onto her side and watched him.

"I think I like you." A pink tinge warmed Severus' cheeks and he cursed the fact that he still couldn't control all of his emotions. He didn't look at her in an effort to hide his blush.

"I think I like you, too." Hermione sighed and rolled onto her back. They stared up at the clouds together.

"But what do we do?"

"Well I guess if people start calling you my girlfriend again, I could maybe _not_ deny it." Hermione smiled. He rolled onto his side in the grass and traced his hand along where her cheek should be. The warmth of her cheek from his daydream helped him imagine she was really there under his skin.

"That would be nice." She said happily, but what Professor Snape would think was still nagging away at the back of her mind. "You're going to resent me so much." She said pensively.

"I don't doubt that for a second."

-

"Severus can you bring us the girl or not?" The room was full of large men and he could feel all of their eyes on him. Lord Voldemort's promises of power were looking definitely lack-lustre now he had Hermione. But the woman he had just witnessed being destroyed for being a traitor just seconds before made him sure he couldn't back out now. Severus dug around in his brain for the lie Dumbledore had told him to use. He didn't think he had ever felt more grateful tot he old coot when he suddenly fished it out of his memory.

"The headmaster doesn't trust me alone with the mudblood. I have tried to get close to her but whenever he sees her getting too attached she is dragged away." Voldemort looked displeased and pointed his wand at Severus. He could see the tip of the curse on the man's tongue and he steeled his muscles ready for the pain. But suddenly Voldemort turned away and moved on to someone else. The sigh of relief could only echo around his head as he thanked any God listening for being overlooked.

After the meeting Severus tried to scramble out of the Castle as quickly as possible. But a long pale aristocratic hand caught him by the shoulder. Halting his escape. He turned to see two Lucius Malfoy's sneering at him.

"I've seen you around school, Snape. You're always with the mudblood. If you really can't get her alone, I'd be happy to help." He drawled, looking around for any sign of their leader. "But if you're lying I'd gladly feed you to the snake myself."

-

A.N – Another chapter finished. But I need your help. I realised whilst writing this that there are only two chapter left. I want to make this three because I only have like a paragraph of notes on Severus and Hermione being together in the 1970s. I WILL TAKE ANY HELP!!!! ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT TO SEE HAPPEN BETWEEN THEM CAN BE SUBMITTED AND IF I LIKE IT AND IT WORKS I WILL PUT IT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. I WILL ALSO CREDIT YOU.

Please I really need all the help I can get because I can't think of anything and won't be able to update otherwise.

Thanks for reading. Reviews just so you know make me insanely happy.


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on!" Hermione rolled her eyes but dutifully began to walk faster. Severus flittered about in front of her, checking corners for anyone watching them. It was rather strange in Hermione's opinion but she didn't comment on his paranoia out of respect for where they were going.

They were deep in the bowels of the castle. Black slime coated the dungeon walls and with every step her shoes stuck to the grimy stone floors. But complaining was out of the question because she didn't want to break the little spell Severus seemed to be under. He may not trust anyone else but he was finally really opening up to her; the place he was taking her to was definitely a break through. They were traipsing through the maze of dungeons to visit his cupboard. Upon finding out that the cupboard he hid from the death eater meetings in actually existed, she had only just managed not to laugh. The image of Severus huddled in a cabinet climbed back into her mind and she smiled to herself as she walked through the darkness.

Severus stopped and looked back to check she was still following and then continued again, a few steps later he repeated this action. Hermione couldn't help but relate his actions to that of a golden Labrador she had once seen. Sadly she didn't think Severus would like her to voice her musings about his lapdog qualities. Severus stopped again and she waited for him to convince himself she was still coming and then walk on. But he didn't. He remained, standing very still and watching her walk towards him. Hermione smiled at him through the gloom when she came to a halt in front of his robed torso.

"If I could I would make you take a wizards oath but seeing as that involves a handshake…" he gestured down to her body, "…and that's a bit difficult for you, I need you to just promise you will never tell anyone about this." Hermione nodded and smiled at him again. The serious look in his eye made her realise he would need a verbal confirmation of her promise.

"I swear I will never tell anyone about your cupboard."

"Even if we break up?"  
"What, planning on breaking up with me?" Severus' eyes bugged and he shook his head frantically.

"No! I was just saying." Hermione smiled again and nodded up at him.

"Promise."

"Wait, look me in the eye and say it again."

"Severus!"

"Please." Hermione rolled her eyes and looked directly at him. His glinting black eyes were probably his best feature and Hermione didn't like to admit that looking into them made her slightly weak at the knees. She wasn't that kind of girl after all.

"I promise, Severus." He looked at her suspiciously before nodding, turning away from her and walking on. Hermione sighed when she realised her poor feet would have even further to go.

They continued walking through the confusing system of dungeons. Groans were coming from locked, barred doors on ever side of them and Hermione stepped closer to Severus in fear of vengeful ghosts. She missed his smirk as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He led her through a heavy black arch way and stopped at a small heavy wooden door. He smirked at her over his shoulder as he pulled out his wand and opened the cupboard.

He gestured for Hermione to go first and she ducked her head to climb inside. A gasp escaped from between her lips as she looked around at her surroundings.

"This is a cupboard?" She had walked in to a little dark room. Books climbed from floor to ceiling against every available wall. A cauldron was set up in one corner and was bubbling merrily away. Hermione walked towards a pile of materials on the floor that upon closer inspection was a Slytherine quilt filled with scraps of fabric.

"Well it used to be. I found it in my third year and it's a nice place to hide." She nodded in agreement and continued to stare in wonder. Severus was frantically gathering books from the tops of piles to make a makeshift stool. He sat down on it precariously and motioned her towards the quilt.

"It's low down but quite soft, you can sit there against the books." Hermione crouched down and made herself comfortable on the thick quilt, she lent back against the towers of books behind her and smiled cautiously at Severus.

"Don't worry they won't fall on you if you don't wiggle too much."

"Okay." Her smile was more trusting and Severus looked at her contentedly. Of course he knew he didn't deserve her and that she would leave him eventually. But that wasn't the sort of things someone thinks about when their girlfriend is pretty much sitting on their bed.

"I'm guessing you want to know why I brought you here then." Hermione was shocked, she had figured that he had just wanted to show her his secret place, but apparently he had ulterior motives.

"Yes please." She stretched her legs and back, casually trying to get more comfortable. It was already February and she hadn't been getting much rest lately from trying to plan her revision. She looked at him sleepily and lent her head back against the binding on a thick Potion book. Severus gulped as he watched her push her torso forward as she stretched; her blue nightie left much less to the imagination then her school robes did.

"I wanted to explain to you why I became a death eater." Hermione's sleepy pose straightened and she looked at him alertly and curiously. He had always wondered why she never seemed to be too bothered about his love for dark magic or his enrolment in the Death Eaters. His biggest fear besides being murdered by the Dark Lord was that she didn't really understand. That she didn't realise just what his hobbies meant. So he needed to tell her on his own terms so he could instigate any bad reactions she might have himself. It was better that way.

"Go on then." She watched him as he sat on the books staring at her. She had begun to feel uncomfortable under his scrutiny and had decided it was best to speak.

"Oh yes, okay. Well when I was a fifth year Lucius began to tell me about a man. He said that this man said all the worthless muggleborns like Lily who had betrayed me by then didn't deserve magic. It elevated from there with Lucius trying to make me come along to meetings. I finally caved towards the end of my sixth year, a couple of months after my seventeenth birthday. This man Lucius spoke of promised me power. Remember you promised never to hate me!" Severus suddenly paused and looked at Hermione desperately. She nodded her face expressionless. "Yes well he promised me power, and revenge on everyone who had ever looked down on me. He said I had talent." Severus twisted his fingers brutally, he didn't even notice as he punished himself. "But then you showed up, and someone was nice to me again. I didn't know what to do. Lucius said I couldn't back out, I had gone too far. Then they started trying to make me bring **you **to them! I had never heard of anything so terrifying!" he looked at her again, the desperation was still clear in his eyes. He fell from his perch on the books, sending them skittering across the floor. He reached out towards her and she mirrored his action without thinking. Their fingers would have touched if they could and he stared in the eyes morosely. She nodded for him to continue and he closed his eyes in defeat. "I asked Dumbledore for help. He told me that I should be his spy. Take the mark," his voice cracked with the ugly word and he stared at their hands. "…and help bring the Dark Lord down from the inside." He pulled his fingers back from hers and used them to pull up his left robe sleeve. The air ripped from Hermione's lungs when her gaze fell on the black mark burned into his skin forever. Tears stung behind her eyes as she scrambled forward to get as close to him as possible. Her finger dusted along where she should be able to feel him and she sniffed away a sob. Severus had his head down, his hair a curtain to hide his face from her.

"Oh Severus." The first tears began to kamikaze down her cheeks. "I want to hug you so much right now." He looked up slowly and she watched as big black eyes appeared between his lank hair.

"You do? You don't hate me?" Her tears became heavier and she shook her head furiously.

"Of course not! Severus I don't know what I would do without you! I like you so much." When he continued to look sceptical she continued. "I could never hate you, in fact if you don't stop being so amazing I'm worried I might fall in love with you." He snorted but seemed to have calmed down.

"Where would we be then?" Severus looked down, his eyes fell on the mark and he quickly yanked his sleeve down. Hermione looked at him sadly and stood up.

"Come on. I'm tired; let's go to bed." Severus stood and followed her to the door.

"I'm scared." His whisper was so low Hermione had to strain her ears to hear it.

"You know, there nothing wrong with showing your emotions, every now and again." Severus held the door open and she ducked under the frame to emerge in the empty and dark dungeon corridor. Severus followed her and sighed lightly under his breath at her comment.

"But there is. Emotions are a sign of weakness." Shaking her head Hermione started down the corridor, ready to fall into bed and never wake up again.

"There's nothing wrong with a bit of weakness between friends." Severus smirked and leant against the wall, his arms folded across his chest.

"Would you say a lack of a sense of direction was a weakness?" Hermione looked back at him and scowled.

"I'm going the wrong way aren't I?"

"Why yes, yes you are."

-

"I'm going to go find the book. I'll be right back." Severus disappeared among the crowds in the full library. They had only gone to the large room on a detour to the lake and Hermione dreadfully wished they hadn't. The room was filled to the brim with students and there wasn't a seat in the entire place for her to rest her aching feet. She lent back, dejected against a bookcase and looked around for any students about to leave. A large group of Gryffindor second years pushed past her and she forced herself back further in to the spines of the books behind her. It was then that she spotted one solitary chair in all of the madness. She pushed through the second years and ran forward. Ignoring the pain in her feet. Hermione leapt forward and caught the chair just as a redheaded fifth year reached it on the other side. The girl scowled at her as Hermione sank onto the wood with satisfaction. She closed her eyes and relaxed; ready to wait for Severus to get his book.

"Hey Granger, where's your boyfriend?" Hermione groaned her shoulders sagging pathetically at the voice. She cracked open one eye to find herself surrounded by marauders. Black and Potter reclined opposite her chair with identical mischievous grins across their faces and Remus and Peter sat either side of her. She groaned again and snapped her eyes closed, trying to block them out.

"Where my boyfriend is has nothing to do with you." The shock poured out of their shocked faces as all four boys stared at her incredulously.

"Oh my… You're actually dating him now?" Black's obnoxious comment made her eyes creak open and she scowled at him across the table.

"Yes." She said through a clenched jaw, her eyes flickered around the library looking for Severus.

"How can you bare to touch it?" Hermione's mouth dropped as Black stared at her with a horrified expression.

"Get lost Black. At least _he _doesn't have fleas." No one seemed to notice her dig had more then one meaning except Remus who looked around at her with terrified eyes. He recovered and noticed her uncomfortable expression. He decided it made sense to stay on her good side.

"Yeah, leave her alone Sirius. She's done nothing to us." Black's jaw dropped even more and he stared at Remus with rejected eyes.

"Mooney, why is it you pick now to develop a backbone?" Potter joked and he punched Remus lightly in the shoulder. Sirius recovered quickly.

"But you _touch_ Snape! **Touch** him." Hermione's outrage was flagging and she only had the energy to roll her eyes at him.

"So?"

"Am I the only person disgusted by…"

"Hermione I got the… why are you sitting with them?" Severus stood behind her chair and sneered at the marauders. Hermione looked up at him, relieved.

"My feet hurt and it was the only seat open." He looked suspiciously at the four boys and then kerked his head towards the exit.

"Oh. Lake?"

"Yeah, I'm coming."

-

Hermione strolled along the Charms corridor heading to her room. Her nose was buried deep in a History textbook so she walked slowly to avoid hitting anyone. She had nearly reached her entrance when she started closing the textbook.

"Hello Miss Granger." The icy drawl drove though her chest and gripped her heart. She dropped the book to the floor and stared at Lucius Malfoy. The relief that it wasn't the older version registered dimly as the Slytherine seventh year strode towards her. "I told Snape it would be easy to get you alone, I can't help but wonder if he's our little traitor." Hermione ignored the shaking of her hands and pulled her wand from her pocket.

"Traitor? What are you talking about?" Hermione could see Severus' future falling down around her ears. Feigning innocence was her only choice.

"The Dark Lord doesn't think Severus is the most loyal of Death Eaters, Granger." Hermione made her mouth drop and her eyes widen.

"But Snape's not a death eater!"

"Is that what he told you? Well, aren't I surprised. Maybe he _was_ trying to capture you for us. Disgusting little mudblood like you of course would fall even for Snape." He was stepping closer. Every foot he put in front of the other seemed to increase her shaking. "But then a little flattery and your dirty blood would make you fall into anyone's bed." Lucius suddenly froze and his eyes widened with amusement. "Except that's not possible because no one can touch you, can they?" he was nearly standing directly in front of her. It was difficult for Hermione not to look at the entrance to her room, lying only a few feet away. She didn't need the situation taken into a private area away from prying eyes. "Lets see if spells will touch you though." Lucius raised his wand and ropes erupted from the tip. Hermione screamed and jumped to the side to avoid them. She ignored the thump as the ropes hit the wall and raised a shield to avoid the thick barrage of spells now coming at her.

Dark hair and robes appeared suddenly at the end of the corridor and Hermione swore silently. If Snape tried to help her then his cover would be ruined. She shook her head frantically at him whilst Lucius was distracted by sending another bombardment of spells at her. She raised her shield again and watched the beams of magic shoot back at their caster Severus was still advancing towards them, his wand raised. Furious that he would blow his cover so easily Hermione let down her shield and immobilised him. Lucius didn't see the dark headed youth that was now frozen still very far down the corridor. But he managed to hit her with a binding spell when her guard was down. Hermione cursed him as she hit the floor, trapped in the thick ropes. Tears sprang into her eyes. This was it. She was finally going to die at the hands of Voldemort.

"Mister Malfoy!" Dumbledore's booming voice filled the corridor and Hermione's tears nearly turned into sobs of relief at the sound of it. Suddenly the ropes were gone and Severus was standing above her, his face a picture of fury. Hermione stumbled to her feet and watched Malfoy threaten Dumbledore with his father as the headmaster floated him down the corridor. Snape scowled at her and jerked his head for her to follow. They walked down the corridor until they arrived at her door, they stepped through and Severus sat down woodenly in her armchair.

"Sit." She took a seat at her desk and stared at him. "Did you want to die?"

"Severus…"  
"Is that it? Have you still not got over your pathetic little life yet?" Hermione scowled at him and stood in outrage. She walked over to the window and looked out with a scowl on her face.

"Why did you do such a stupid thing?" she whirled around in fury and crossed her arms.

"Because you are an idiot who was about to blow his cover!" Severus stood too and walked over so he could glare at her better.

"I would rather face the Dark Lord's wrath then watch you die." Hermione stomped her foot still furious.  
"Then you have the IQ of Sirius bloody Black! You need to be a spy, Severus! You save thousands of wizards and witches lives! What's me compared to all the innocent people you help!"  
"You're everything! Everything!" they stared at each other in mutual fury until they both turned away and began to pace. Restless, Hermione walked back and forth in front of the fireplace. A glance every couple of seconds showed Severus doing the same before the window. She sighed and continued to walk, not sure what she should be contemplating at a time like this: Severus' words or his actions in the future.

"What kind of person am I?" Hermione stopped and looked at him. He had fallen into the armchair again and was looking at her with an expressionless face. Hermione ran towards him and stopped at his knees.

"You are an insanely brave man… and an insanely lonely man." Severus nodded and looked down at his hands, the fingers laced and the pals resting on his robed leg.

"Would you mind leaving me alone?"

-

She hadn't seen Severus in days. The loneliness was slowly eating her up and she had taken to wandering the halls at night again. The windows were like picture frames displaying the perfect night sky. But Hermione believed they had long lost their charm without a solid black figure to stand next to at them. Severus hadn't been in lessons or at meals and she had even braved the hallway outside the Slytherine common room looking for him. She had tried everywhere… his cupboard suddenly sprung into her mind. She lamented herself for not thinking about looking for him there sooner. She broke into a run, her bare feet slapping against the freezing stone floor. A tall, skinny frame in a black robe suddenly rounded a corner and Hermione sped up hoping it was Severus. But Remus Lupin was the one who looked up as she skidded to a halt in front of him. Disappointed Hermione sat down in a windowsill and pulled her legs up under her chin. Severus obviously didn't want to see her so why should she bother to find him?

Remus sat down on the windowsill next to her.

"Hi." Shocked, she lent her cheek against her knee and stared at him through the curls that fell across her face.

"Hi?"

"What's wrong?" Hermione bristled, suspicious that he was about to start making fun of her.

"Why would you care?" his shocked features made her want to cringe – that was not a polite reaction to a harmless question. "I'm sorry. I think I've been spending too much time with Severus." She laughed bitterly and looked away from him, resting her chin on her knees instead. "Who is actually what is wrong with me." Remus shifted on the wooden windowsill and debated putting his arm around her. He decided not to and instead extended the olive branch and not his arm.

"Well do you want to hang out with me?" Hermione dropped her feet to the floor and smoothed the creases from her nightie.

"I guess."

"Don't bowl me over with your enthusiasm or anything. Might get the wrong idea." Hermione smiled at him and they moved down the hallway. "Hey have you read the new Ancient Magic series by Thomas Goldberg?"

"No sadly. I don't have much money left over for recreational reading from Hogwarts scholarship."

"Well I just finished the first one." He pulled a large textbook out from under his arm. "You can borrow it is you want."

"Really?"  
"Sure?" Remus nearly laughed at her eagerness.

"That would be amazing."

"I'll carry it for you until you get bored of me while we're hanging out. Then you can give it back whenever you're done."

Severus watched from the around the corner as Hermione and Remus walked further away from him. He wasn't sure what the pain in his stomach or the odd taste in his mouth was but he thought it might have something to do with jealousy. He scoffed at the idea and decided he wasn't the jealous type. Hermione's laugh floated back towards him and he scowled. The duo turned a corner and they were gone. Severus kicked his boot against the stone wall and snarled viciously. 'Yes, definitely not jealous.' He thoughts as he stormed off.

-

A.N: Another chapter out of the way. Thank you to everyone that gave me ideas. I will put all of your names at the end of story because I'm too lazy to go find them now. I have added an extra three and a half chapter into the story which is lovely.

Thank you for reading.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Reviews make me smile.

Becky


	8. Chapter 8

"I hate books." Harry groaned at Ron's words and nodded his approval. "I_ actually _do. I don't understand how Hermione did this!"

"Neither do I! My fingers are cramping." Harry wrinkled his nose up with disgust and put his head on the desk in defeat.

"I'm so sorry you can't take even a little discomfort to save your best friend." The voice dripped with sarcasm and Harry and Ron groaned as Remus returned from his coffee break. "I mean she's only stuck nearly twenty years in the past. But that's okay as long as you don't have to spend a couple of days…"

"Fine! Okay? Lupin, **fine**!" Harry interrupted him and lifted his head from the desk. "Did you at least bring us some coffee too?"

"You're too young for coffee." Harry looked at Ron with outraged exasperation as Remus sipped from his mug, an innocent smile on his face.

"Harry? Do you remember _why_ we asked for his help?" Ron asked suddenly. Remus ignored him and pulled another large textbook towards himself. Harry threw Ron a bored look and started skimming another page.

They worked in silence for hours. Their fingers cramped, eyes burned and their thoughts turned traitorous. They could even hear the screams of joy coming up from the snow covered grounds but the idea of Hermione trapped spurred them on. She had been gone for a week already and Headmaster Dumbledore had set them to work only hours after her disappearance. Remus had been a late entrant into the team. He had been thrown into the library with them only a few days before. He had been drawn to Hogwarts because of his guilt about not being nicer to Hermione sooner. He didn't like to think about how he could have saved her from having to make friends with Snape in the first place. He hadn't yet told the boys the exact nature of the relationship between the strange new girl Hermione and the greasy git Severus Snape. He wasn't planning on being the barer of that news ever, actually.

Suddenly something long and large flew towards him and he found himself trapped against his chair, bounds by thick brown rope.

"It's nothing personal Remus. But we just really, really want your coffee." Harry and Ron were looking at his with guilty expressions. Remus sighed.

"How long have you been planning this." Ron and Harry exchanged a glance. Ron sucked in a breath through his teeth and grinned before answering.

"_Quite _a while." Harry picked up his mug and sniffed. His eyes bugged and he retched silently.

"**That** is not coffee!" Remus smiled mildly.

"Yes it is. It's one of Sirius' original brews. You really don't want to try it." Harry raised an eyebrow and sipped the brown concoction. His cheeks reddened and he spat the liquid out onto Ron's shoes. He frantically rubbed his tongue and hopped from foot to foot trying to get rid of the burn.

"What was **that**?" Remus chuckled and nodded down at the ropes. Ron waved his wand and they shot back into the tip.

"That was your first taste of Sirius' finest Black Irish Coffee. It contains firewiskey, gin, coffee beans, rum and mud." As Harry continued to retch and scratch at his tongue Remus took the mud from him and sipped. He smiled at Harry's horrified look. "It's an acquired taste."

"How can you drink that? Wait, mud?" Remus nodded happily and turned back to his textbook, taking another sip as he went.

"I spent pretty much my entire seventh year slightly intoxicated on this stuff. I drink it now… to remember him."

"This is your idea of research?" the icy drawl interrupted them and they turned as one to stare at Severus Snape. The tall man strode forward until he could pluck the mug from Remus' hands. He raised it to his nose and sniffed deeply. He raised an eyebrow and placed it on the tabletop.

"I believe this is the concoction that you used to get Granger drunk." Remus looked ashamed and swivelled back in his chair.

"Hermione? Drunk? Yeah right." Said Ron, he elbowed Harry in the ribs, "Can you imagine?" Severus sneered at his animalistic behaviour.

"Yes. It was afterwards that I found out what sort of drunk your little friend is."

"What do you mean _you _found out?"

"Severus and Hermione were friends." Remus didn't look at the boys as he broke the news. Severus crossed his arms, not bothering to hide his smug expression.

"But of course Lupin, we were 'friends' all right." Lupin winced knowing that Snape could drop the bombshell of his relationship with Hermione at any time. Severus turned and stormed from the library, his cloak billowing behind him. They sat speechless in his wake until Ron couldn't handle the silence anymore.

"Please tell me she wasn't a horny drunk."

-

Severus walked down the dungeon hallway his mind in tatters. He was dreading when Granger would be back; he didn't think he could handle seeing her again knowing she finally knew what he did. He groaned and tugged on his hair. If only he had known who she was he never would have got close to her. But he hadn't known and he did and now he didn't know what to do.

He had searched the entire library for answers after she had left and he had been given the position of Potions Master. If anyone bothered to ask him he could pinpoint the _exact_ sentence in the _exact_ paragraph of the _exact_ book that held the secret of Hermione's time travel. The only thing to do now was wait and see if anyone lowered himself or herself enough to ask **him**. But the problem was that he didn't know if he wanted to tell them how to bring back his Hermione to their time. He wanted to keep her to himself for as long as possible. Although it meant he was selfish he didn't care; her presence had made his life a marginally better place to be.

-

Harry and Ron pestered Remus for days to tell them more about what Hermione had been like in the past. He avoided their questions because he was ashamed about how little he had known her. Towards the end of her stay they had got close but she never told him who she really was and they spent most of their time in silence studying. His friends had always been horrible to her and he had let them. Just like he had let them drive Snape to the dark side and Peter into his traitorous ways. In Remus' past he could see every milestone that he had come across. In hindsight he saw the different paths he could have taken, paths that would have put the people around him on others too.

-

A.N Well I officially hate this chapter. It was in my opinion terrible but it was something someone wanted to see so I wrote it I just handled it terribly. I know it's short and I am annoyed by that but I suddenly hated writing Ron and Harry. I think it's something to do with writing too much Snape; the second he appeared I was happier and when he was gone I got bored again.

Oh well.

Oh and if anyone is interested in why I sound so sad it's because I applied for a job at ARGOS!!!! today!! My college wants me to be in their crappy bullshit gifted and talented section and beef up their reputation, I think I failed all my GCSEs and I applied to bloody ARGOS!!!!! fml Sorry it has touched a nerve because I doubt i'll even get the job when I'm supposed to be _so _smart.

Also if there are errors I'm sorry but i am sad and don't feel like proofreading right now.


	9. Chapter 9

A.N Back to the past. Yay!

Just so you know from below "No you're right. I didn't really think bout the question." I had just spent an hour exercising on the wii and drunk loads of water so I feel was feeling very lovely. So please ignore as it jumps from my depressed ramblings at the beginning to 'oh isn't life wonderful? I think I'll get some more water.' Anyway enough of me, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

-

The Great Hall was unbearably loud as Hermione sat trying to eat her dinner in peace. The room was buzzing with anticipation for Valentine's Day, which was only a weekend away. The happiness was beginning to grate on her nerves and it didn't help that everyone was ignoring her. She had sat at the Ravenclaw table for nearly every meal since she had arrived back in the past but the house had never really bothered to accept her. Her meals were full of 'pass the potatoes' and 'you were in McGonagall's lesson. How much homework did she give us!' the only participation Ravenclaw wanted from her was nods and groans. She tried to block out their ramblings and wandered how the house had got their reputation for being smart; they only seemed bothered about flowers and chocolates.

Hermione couldn't help but wonder if her new found anger for the house came from her bitterness that her Valentine's day was hardly going to be memorable that year. Even though she did have a boyfriend for once, he was hardly the affectionate type. There was also the small problem of him avoiding her like the plague. Yet again he had disappeared and she hadn't seen him for days. Hermione sighed and pushed her potatoes around her plate. Bored she mused silently that she had to get out of the habit of eating all the meat first.

"Can you pass the salt, Hermione?" on auto pilot she grabbed the small white shaker and dropped it in front of the future Alice Longbottom. Long ago she had got used to seeing parents of people she knew in the future. She could now even handle a conversation with them sometimes without bursting into tears. "Thanks. Hey, are you and Snape doing anything for Valentine's day?" Hermione chuckled blandly. She looked at Alice's round happy face and smiled still guffawing.

"No, no we not." The idea of Snape with a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates suddenly became even more amusing. Her laughter grew until Hermione found herself holding her ribs in agony.

"What's so funny?" Alice asked with a mild voice; Hermione looked very strange.

"Come on! Could you imagine Severus on Valentines's Day." The corner of Alice' mouth twitched until she was giggling herself.

"No you're right. I didn't really think about the question." They fell into silence again and Alice turned back to her friends. Hermione pushed her potatoes around her plate again and wondered if there was such a thing as too many servings of chicken…

The doors of the Great Hall opened tentatively and Lucius Malfoy inched into the room trying to blend in with the stone walls. Hermione looked up to take another helping of meat and caught him shuffling to the Slytherine table. Her fork clanged loudly as it hit her plate. Her breath caught and she stared at his retreating back in horror; across his face, long shallow gouges were cut into his features. Alice gave her a curious look but continued on discussing Frank Longbottom's eyes. Hermione pushed back the bench roughly; her eyes still fixed on the blond head of Malfoy. The other occupants of the low wooden seat yelled as they toppled into each other. Hermione didn't bother to apologise but instead ran out of the Great Hall as fast as her little black shoes could take her. She found Severus leaning against a stone wall, smirking to himself. He didn't see her approach until it was too late.

"Levicorpus!" she had screamed it before she even knew her wand was in her hand. Severus was launched into the air upside down, dangling from his ankle by an invisible source.

"Hermione! Hermione, why are…?"

"How could you Snape? How could you blow your cover like that? I know you were angry…"

"Let me down." Severus roared from above her. She ignored him and began pacing back and forth in front of his struggling legs. She glared angrily at the robes that had fallen down in front of his face.

"I told you it was important! I told you, Snape! I told you… how could you do this?"

"What have I done?" Severus had finally stopped yelling but he still struggled where he was suspended in the air. Hermione looked at him incredulously and reached out a hand to touch his outer robe. The heavy black material fell through him and showed her his face. Severus' fists flailed and his shirt rode up his stomach to reveal pale skin. Hermione scowled at his red face.

"What have you done? You know what you're done! You've bloody given yourself away! How could you? You would have saved thousands of people! I trusted you." Hermione backed away from him until she hit a wall. Her knees buckled and she slid down into a puddle of robes and curls on the floor. "Severus." She looked up at his red face desperately. "Why?"

"I haven't given myself away."

"Of course you have. I just saw Malfoy…"

"Yeah well Malfoy didn't see me!" Hermione watched his face slowly turn purple. She flicked her wand and Severus crashed to the ground. He wheezed and shook his head trying to catch his breath.

"Are you sure?" he looked at her with fury in his eyes and ignored her presence. She crossed the stone hallway on her hands and knees until she was sitting in front of his wary form. He laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling, willing the blood in his head to return to his legs so he could walk away. "Are they permanent?" the smirk blossomed on Severus' face again and he sat up weakly.

"No, but they'll be on his pretty little face for a while." He said, Hermione looked at him horrified. Gathering her robes around her she stood. He grinned maliciously up at her.

"Why did you do it?" his grin faded quickly and he looked at her with a hard look in his eyes.

"I'm sick of feeling useless." Hermione nodded slowly and wrapped her arms around her torso.

"I think _I_ want to be alone, now."

-

"Hello Hermione." The light pleasant voice filled the small patch of grass she was lying on. Hermione smiled up at Remus, not acknowledging the presence of the rest of the marauders.

"Hello Remus." She rolled onto her stomach and looked out over the lake.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" she looked over her shoulder and inspected each innocent face. Hermione pushed herself up into a sitting position and stretched.

"Yeah, whatever." The four boys dropped into the grass around her and pulled out various textbooks.

"Hey James, where is Lily?" Sirius asked quietly. Hermione looked around them all suspiciously. Their clothes were neat, their hair tidy, and each was busy with their revision. It was entirely too lovely for the four boys she had held at arms length since she had first arrived.

"Lily is packing because she is going to visit her grandmother this weekend." Hermione's head whipped around as James answered Sirius in an equally polite manner. The full sentence sounded odd coming out of his lips. On closer inspection Hermione spotted a definite parting in his hair.

"How lovely." Peter commented. Hermione pulled her wand out of her sleeve and pointed it at the four of them.

"What's going on?" there was a sigh of relief from Black.

"See Prongs! There was no point! I told you she would see through us pretending to be respectable."

"Mooney was embarrassed of us." James explained, he reached out and pulled Remus into a headlock, ruffling his sandy hair. "He didn't say it but we could tell so we tried to be good little boys but…" he sighed again and released a struggling Remus. "It just wasn't meant to be." He grinned roguishly at her and reached up to mess his hair up properly.

"It was weird and creepy." She said slowly, her brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Don't worry. It won't happen again." Remus gave her an apologetic look and she shrugged. The grass was comfortable and the sun was warm, who cared if she was stuck with only the marauders for company. Hermione laid back in the grass on her back so she could watch the clouds sailing past. Happy laughter started to float towards her bed of grass as the marauders put their books away and started a game of catch with one of Sirius's shoes. Remus shuffled across the grass towards her to get out of firing range.

"Sorry about annoying you; we can't help it." Remus grinned sheepishly at her. Hermione watched him lean towards her to bump her shoulder with his in a friendly fashion. The scream erupted from between her lips before she could stop it. Remus jumped back and the marauders stared at her.

"Oh sorry… I don't like to be touched." Her cheeks blossomed into a blush and she stared at the ground. Remus grinned sheepishly again.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know." The rest of the marauders continued to stare at her with shocked open-mouths.

"That's okay I'm just odd." She smiled at Remus and he shook his head tiredly. He sat back in the grass next to her and they both turned to look at the marauders. Hermione fought the urge to scream again as the three boys advanced on her, their arms open wide and their eyes gleaming with mischief. "No please! Please you can't touch me!" Hermione scrabbled backwards on her hands and knees, unwittingly heading for the lake. "Please! Stop!" Suddenly her hands ran out of grass to crawl across and she tumbled backwards into the icy water. Big sorry hands reached out to grab her before she hit the lake but they missed and Hermione dropped below the surface.

Bubbles streamed around her as she thought against the cold. She touched the murky depth with her shoes and pushed up desperately. The muddy water swirled and she had to fight not to close her eyes against the sting. Her searching hands reached the surface first and she screamed in relief when they escaped the water. Frozen water invaded her mouth and the bubbles streamed more, but thankfully her head finally broke the surface. She gasped, greedily sucking in blessed air. She pulled at the scarf wrapped around her neck and fought to clear her head.

"Expelliarmus."

"Furnunculus!" Spells were flying in the air above her head and Hermione looked up to see Severus dodging a spell that would cover him in boils. Groaning into her drenched scarf she made her way to the bank.

"Is that all you've got Potter? You obviously _are_ a coward…"

"Incarcerous!" Potter roared, his wand aimed furiously at Severus heart but Severus deflected it with a small flick of his wand. Remus looked on, his wand ready in his hand to break up the fight if it got too dangerous. Peter stood slightly behind Remus, waiting for the moment he could use the boy as a human shield. Hermione waded towards a slope in the small trench around the lake and climbed up the muddy incline. She looked sourly at Severus as he stood as arrogantly as Potter and Black, his wand was held lightly in his fingers and he smirked at the duo dangerously. Potter's binding curse could never stop Severus in his tirade.

"… but then the proof of your cowardice is in you pushing a defenceless girl into the lake. She has never done anything to you…"

"Please tell me this isn't you defending my honour, Severus." The group of angry teenagers turned to face her. Hermione reached behind her head and pulled her hair around onto her shoulder. Ringing her curls out she sneezed pitifully. "Because I would have preferred someone just help me out of the **lake**!" Hermione glared at the five boys and pulled her own wand from her wet pocket, she shrugged her heavy robes off of her shoulders and turned her wand to the soaking fabric. "Because I happened to be drowning whilst you were having your petty little squabble." Shivering Hermione turned her wand to her uniform and dried it quickly. "Who says chivalry is dead?" **(1) **Hermione walked towards Severus and stood directly in front of him, looking up to look him in the eye with a hard stare.

"Hermione…"

"I said I wanted to be alone, Severus." He opened his mouth to argue but Hermione shook her head angrily from side to side. "I _know_ you have been following me for the last three days." Severus seemed to pale even more, so Hermione continued. "It's called a Homenum Revelio spell and you've been stalking me everywhere I go according **(2) **to it." Hermione turned to look at the marauders who were staring at her curiously again. Black opened his mouth to speak.

"We're sorry about trying to touch…"

"I don't care, just don't do it again." **(3) **Hermione turned away and stormed off towards the castle.

"Aww poor Sevvy-poo, has your girlfriend dumped you?" Severus stared at Hermione's retreating back and started to walk after her. "I don't think so Snape…"

-

The Hogwarts corridors were too thin for the stampede of students that surged through them daily, but to a the solitary figure meandering down them later that afternoon they felt cavernous. Hermione had nowhere to go and no one to talk to so she resumed her night-time habit of wandering. But the daylight flooding through the windows was putting her off ever venturing on her travels in the day again. So used to twinkling stars as the only light to see from was she, that everything looked harsh and ugly in the afternoon sun.

"_Ding Dong Snape is dead. Which old Snape? The ugly Snape. The ugly Snape is dead_." Hermione paused at the sudden off key singing coming from the floor below her. She crouched down and put her ear to the dusty floor.

"_Shut up Padfoot, he's not dead yet._" Hermione frowned and pressed her ear even closer to the stones.

"_Oh how I love when Evans goes away. It's like your conscious is packed away in her trunk._" Hermione groaned and quickly scrambled to her feet. The stairs were far away and she had to hurry before Potter and Black made Severus even bitterer. Her feet sounded like thunder on the stairs and she could hear an argument brewing between Black and Potter about whether they should run from the person advancing on them. Hermione skidded as she erupted from the staircase and stumbled to a halt in front of Potter and Black. An unconscious Severus span bound between them, unconscious in the air.

"Oh my God!" she screamed and ran forward. Her wand ripped from her pocket and she pointed it at Black's neck. "Why can't you just leave him alone." Black put his hands up in surrender.

"Didn't think you would care to be honest, darling. Recently you have seemed just as disgusted by him as we are."

"What?"

"We though you were coming to your senses." Potter added, Hermione looked between them wildly and shook her head menacingly.

"No, I love Severus." Hermione froze and looked thoughtful. That wasn't possible, was it? She couldn't possibly have fallen in love with her snarky Potions Professor. "I love Severus? I _love _Severus?" She looked between Potter and Black in wonder. "I **love **Severus. How very odd." She flicked her wand at a gagging Black and suddenly he was bound in ropes. Potter raised his wand in shock but soon he too was trapped in a flurry of ropes.

"Granger!" they roared in sync. Hermione looked at them curiously.

"I can't believe I love him. It's very strange."

"Granger! Untie us!" Hermione looked at an outraged Black and laughed quietly.

"No. That was for making me fall in the lake." She walked lightly towards Black and pushed herself up onto her tiptoes to whisper in his ear.

"You're going to leave Severus alone or there will be a lovely little note on Professor McGonagall's desk tomorrow morning about a certain black mutt I have seen around the grounds." Hermione lent back and dropped back on to her feet. "The resemblance actually between the two of you is uncanny." Hermione left Sirius spluttering, and struggling against his binds. Hermione walked towards Severus and flicked her wand. He came crashing down to the floor, she enervated him but she didn't attempt to free him of his ropes.

"The next time I tell you I want to be alone you will leave me alone. No following me around to make sure I'm safe. Because _I_ can look after myself." Hermione dropped to her knees at his side and lent over him, her curls falling over her shoulder. "But I don't think I want to be alone anymore." Hermione stood and walked away from the three bound boys. "You are all rather pathetic, you know."

-

"You could have untied me." Hermione laughed and looked over her shoulder at a Severus who was obviously feeling slightly slighted.

"I was too annoyed that you just left me in the lake to drown whilst you cursed your little enemy."

"We had to wait _three hours_ for someone to come along and it was McGonagall. She gave us detentions for blocking the corridor." Hermione smiled at him mischievously and he pulled out the seat next to her. Sitting down he rubbed his wrists where the ropes had cut in.

"I'm not going to apologise."

"I know." Severus laid his head down on the wooden table and closed his eyes.

"Do you want to just do some revision tonight?"

"Nah, let's do something different for once."

"Like what?"

"I was thinking we could go for a walk or something. Just relax."

"That might be interesting."

-

Hermione awoke on Valentine's Day to empty corridors and a deserted Great Hall. Only the teachers were sitting primly at the top of the long room. There were not even any first years around. It seemed the lower school was avoiding the 'disgusting' older students on the most annoying Monday of the year. She of course knew for a fact that the upper school was probably putting in as much time with their loved ones before class as they could. The empty Hall was refreshing. Hermione took a seat at the end of the long Ravenclaw table and scooped some crumpets onto her plate, ready to devour them; everyone else could skip breakfast if they wanted to but she was _hungry. _

The heavy wooden doors opened again and Severus walked inside, his nose buried in a book.

"Good morning." Hermione called towards him. Startled the tall boy looked up from his book. With shock he looked around the empty hall and his eyes focused on Hermione grinning at him around a crumpet.  
"Morning. Where is everyone?" Severus walked towards her and looked pensively down at the bench Hermione was on.  
"You can sit down; none of my skin is touching it." Severus sat down cautiously and threw Hermione a small smile.

"Why is the hall empty?" Hermione chuckled lightly, the crumpets putting her in a great mood.

"They're all making out in empty alcoves." Severus nodded solemnly and pulled the crumpets towards himself. They ate in silence ignoring the 'aww's and coos coming from the staff table.

"_Just adorable. So innocent too, they're in here instead of doing disgusting things in dorm rooms. Youth today…" _

"Oh I have to…" Severus ducked under the table and sifted through his bag. Hermione laughed and bent under the table to watch. Severus suddenly grasped something in his hands and tried to pull back. Thud, his head hit the table and he swore loudly. Hermione laughed again and Severus carefully climbed out from under the table, rubbing his head as he moved.

"If you keep laughing I won't give it to you."

"You got me something?" Severus rolled his eyes and held his closed fist out to her.

"That is the deemed social tradition, is it not?" Hermione smiled and looked expectantly at his hand. He slowly uncurled his fingers to release a large tea coloured rose. Hermione smiled and reached out to take it from his hand. "It's charmed not to wilt and is pretty much impossible to destroy." Severus was hoping desperately that she wouldn't hate it. He had spent hours trying to think of something to get her and the flower had been a last minute decision.

"It's beautiful Severus. I'll cherish it forever." Severus hid his triumphant smirk. That was what he had been going for, he had felt compelled to give her a piece of him that she wouldn't leave behind. "How did you make it this shade?" Hermione asked curiously as she compared it to the drink in her teacup.

"I used a potion. Muggles can make them too but I didn't have the time."

"Thank you very much." She carefully placed the flower beside her breakfast plate, unable to tare her eyes away from its delicate petals. Hermione reached below the table, her eyes still on the flower and pulled a small package from her bags depths. She dropped it in Severus' lap and picked up her flower again. She smoothed its petals with her fingers and turned to face Severus.

"Your present is not as pretty as mine, I went for practicality." Severus moved long white fingers under the spellotape and pulled up the corners of the brown paper hiding his present. He tugged one edge of the material and a small black book rolled out onto his lap. He picked it up with careful fingers, peeking inside he saw empty pages.

"What is it?" he asked bluntly. Hermione laughed and flicked through the book to the first page. Happily she read the words she had inked their herself.

"Dear Severus, I have given you this to write down your potion recipes in. Hopefully now you can stop carrying around all the scraps of paper you have written down your various modified potions and poisons on. Love from Hermione." Severus blinked owlishly down at the little black book.

"Why have _I_ never thought of this?"  
"Because I'm brilliant and you just meander along with your average intelligence." Severus scowled at her and she smiled happily at her flower. Her obvious love for her present soothed his features and he placed his new Potions Journal in his bag. Picking up another crumpet, he watched Hermione place the flower in her pocket.

Unfortunately their own little Valentines Day had fuelled the whispering from the head table. They sat in amiable silence again, ignoring the teachers. **(4)**

**-**

"Hermione, do we want to know why you know what you know?" Hermione continued walking as though the marauders had not just sprouted out of the shadows on either side of her.

"Shouldn't you all be off doing unmentionable things in empty classrooms."

"Well yes we should, but we need an answer first." Hermione glanced at a grinning Black as he finished his sentence.

"You don't want to know why I know what I know. Nor just how much more I know about what you know I know."

"Oddly enough we're okay with that." Remus said soothingly, "As long as no one else will find out what we all know."

"Speak for yourself." Black muttered. "I'm quite worried by all this."

"Don't worry Black. You can trust me."

-

The staterooms in Voldemort's hideout were magnificent. They were large, comfortable and warm. Lucius Malfoy spread out on the plush covers of the large four poster bed in the middle of his room. Bringing the Granger whelp back in time had been the best thing he could have done for his status as a Death Eater and the Dark Lord had been infinitely thankful. Lucius laughed gleefully into his large silky black pillows and imagined what horrors he could inflict on the little brat. He just needed to trap her somehow and she would be his to destroy.

Arrogant knocking interrupted his gleeful musings and his younger self strode into his rooms. Angry red marks marred his perfect face and Lucius bristled; he had never found out who had used Snape's curse on him. The spell was all over Hogwarts during his last year and any number of people could have done it.

"Good evening." His younger self said. The eighteen-year-old fell gracefully into an armchair by the glorious fire and lazily smirked at his older self.

"Evening. I see you have been attacked."

"Yes it was someone protecting Granger." Lucius scowled darkly. "But that is not our problem at the moment; the Dark Lord is growing restless."

"Yes I know. He is always asking why I bothered to bring back Granger in the first place."

"Why did you?" the eighteen year old asked.

"I've told you before."  
"Yes but the logic behind it is slightly shaky in my opinion."

"I was trying to bring back _Potter_." He spat the word with venom and flung himself to his feet in anger. "But Granger got in the way. But I _was_ trying to pull Potter back in time with me so the Dark Lord could vanquish him when he was at his strongest." He scowled at his younger self. "There is no 'shaky' logic."

"But you've been here before. You must know how best to capture Granger so we can destroy her."

"But that is it. We never captured her. One day she simply vanished and my older self, who is I now, was left behind. I can't let that happen again."

"But if it's your past then it has already happened, so it will happen again." Lucius stormed to his sitting counter-part and released his glare upon the unsuspecting boy. The younger Lucius merely raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by his older-self.

"But I have the benefit of hindsight, you forget." The teenager nodded slowly.

"Of course you do. Say Lucius what happened to you after Granger left."

"I was destroyed by the Dark Lord. But that won't happen to me. It can't." Lucius gracefully stood and smiled pitifully down at himself. He swore that he would never let himself become that crazy. Of course **he** could change the future. He'd obliterate Granger himself if he had to. He would not be the one who was destroyed. (A.N I'm sick of footnotes so I might as well just tell you that he's already a bit crazy and yes of course he will still die and do every other stupid thing he shouldn't of in his life. Also I haven't seen the GIANT spider since footnote 3 but I may have to sleep in my sister's bed just in case.)

-

Weeks passed by and the NEWTs loomed closer, Severus and Hermione spent an unhealthy amount of time locked away in the library studying. Hermione was so stressed that her hair was beginning to thin and she waited for the day when her head left her pillow and her curls didn't follow. Severus was in similar state of emotional upheaval and had already hidden for three days after a particularly **large **spot had appeared on his forehead. His new potion written neatly in his Potions Journal only kept the small spots away and he still suffered from the occasional large imperfection on his pale skin.

"I can't take this anymore!" Severus said loudly, startling Hermione from her book.

"I don't care. The NEWTs start next week and we are nowhere near ready and this is just…"

"No. I refuse to do this anymore."

"Shut up and get back to work."  
"Hermione this is unhealthy."

"I don't care." Severus stood and pushed all of their books off of the table and onto the floor. "This is the moment when I should be able to ravish you in the library." Hermione scowled at him. "But seeing as that's not an option we're going to get ice-cream instead."

"I don't want ice-cream." Hermione said stubbornly as she reached down to pick up one of her textbooks.

"I don't care. Get up."

They casually made their way back to the library, both clutching a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Hermione sighed as she licked her spoon absent-mindedly.

"We _could_ just read together for the rest of the day and then dive back in tomorrow."  
"I can't. I promised Remus I would revise with him in a bit." Severus stiffened and threw his spoon down into his bowl with agitation.

"Why?"

"Because Remus can't get any peace around the marauders so we're going to revise out by the lake." Hermione said casually as they continued walking down the corridors, eating their vanilla ice cream.

"But that's where we sit!"

"So?"

"Are you trying to replace me with the wolf?" they arrived in the library and Hermione laughed at his question. He stubbornly waited for an answer and she gathered her books from the floor. He scowled at her back as she bent over to look under the table for any stray notes. "Well?"

"What? No! I like you, remember?" Hermione walked towards the library door and Severus followed her still scowling. The empty library sent their conversation back to them in a fleeting echo. Hermione reached for the door, but with a flick of his wand Severus had locked the heavy oak entrance.

"You know I can walk through that, right?" Severus came to stand behind her, his hand hovered above where her curls should be. The longing to feel just how soft they must be was overwhelming.

"I wish I could kiss you."

"I wish I could kiss you too." Hermione turned around and smiled at him. He stared at her with a confusing expression on his face and for one horrified second Hermione thought he was going to throw up but suddenly she realised. Severus was looking at her wistfully.

"I really do like you."

"I really do like you too."

"Don't go see the wolf." Hermione laughed and turned around again before disappearing through the wooden panel of the door.

-

"Why do we continue to find you two together? Are you _sure_ you're not cheating on Snape?" Hermione groaned into the pages of her textbook. She and Remus had only been sitting together out by the lake for half an hour and already the marauders had arrived.

"You lot aren't big on independence, are you?" she asked with a quizzical expression on her face.

"No." Hermione nodded slowly, wondering why she even bothered to ask. Black, Potter and Pettigrew dropped into the grass around her and Remus. Hermione pulled her legs up away from Peter as he nearly fell right through them. It was only then that the fumes hit her.

"Woah! What have you guys been drinking?" Black grinned cheerfully and waved a large grey mug under her nose. A cough erupted from her nose at the smell and she backed away. Her reaction seemed to make the daft drunken boy even happier.

"Ah yes, feel the burn, Granger." Black turned to Remus, his grey eyes widened and doing his best impression of Padfoot.

"Your turn, Remus." Lupin rolled his eyes and nodded irritably. Black extended the mug to his mouth and tipped a foul black liquid down Remus' throat. Eyes bugging Remus gagged and put his hands to his neck. He spluttered loudly before recovering with a tired expression.

"Peer pressure much?" Hermione asked casually with her eyebrows raised at his reaction. Remus threw her an amused look and shrugged. Hermione imitated him and turned back to her book. Remus drank some more. The hacking cough broke through into her concentration and she looked up again.

"What is _that_?" she asked incredulously as Black casually sipped more of the deadly drink. No coughing, no spluttering. It was obvious drinking was a favourite pastime of the marauder. Sirius puffed his chest out and grinned with pretend pomp to answer her question.

"Why this is only the Black's Finest Irish Coffee." Hermione looked at his with exasperation and James took a turn with the mug.

"Irish coffee? So it had alcohol in?" James coughed and grinned, releasing the cup from his grip back to Black.

"And mud!" It was obvious James was extremely drunk. He was lounging across Black's torso and they had become a mess of limbs in the grass. Remus swayed slightly next to her and lifted his hand to the head, apparently already feeling the effects.

"Do you want some?" Sirius asked cheekily, he extended his arm again and offered her the mug. His body jumped with a drunken hiccup and he and James burst into slurred laughter.

"Oddly, no I don't." Hermione said, she turned back to her textbook and tried to make sense of the key facts on love potions. She would have to ask Severus for help later.

"Aww, it's a good little Ravenclaw." Remus' comment shocked her and she looked up in awe. In a matter of seconds he had dismissed his books and was now lounging on Potter's legs. Apparently Black's Finest was fast acting.

"No wonder she has no friends." Her heart seemed to stall on her chest and she looked at Peter in horror. The small boy hiccuped and fell backwards onto the grass.

"Sorry about him; when he's drunk he thinks aloud." His words echoed in her head and mixed with the loneliness that she had felt in her first year. A sudden image of Ron bloomed in her head and she watched him make the same comment. She missed Harry and Ron so much and now Pettigrew had dragged up all the feelings she had tried to suppress. Fury coursed through her at Peter and Ron for being mean and for everyone back home being too lazy to come and rescue. On impulse Hermione wrenched the mug from Sirius' hands. She ignored the fumes and took a huge gulp of the foul liquid. Drunken cheers sounds far away in her ears as the world span. Her throat was on fire and there was burning fuzz following the alcohol sliding down her body. She sputtered and blinked owlishly as she came back to earth. The gag was uncontrollable and she breathed deeply trying to regain her sense of smell.

"That wasn't as bad as I expected actually. I've had worse." The celebrations after the final battle filled her head, but she was brought back down to earth by Peter.

"Like what? Snape's c…"

"**Peter! No! **Woah there, let's not talk about that sort of thing in front of a girl Peter." Sirius was the only one sober enough to control the small blond boy. Peter grinned sheepishly and fell asleep in the grass. "And just so you know, Hermione. There is nothing worse then Black Irish Coffee…"

"Your friends have obviously never broken into the drinks cabinet at Grimm…" Hermione stopped herself from revealing that she had drunken three hundred year old firewhiskey at Sirius' house. The celebrations had spread far and wide and Ron had felt adventurous after normal firewhiskey had got boring. "Forget about it, anyway can I have some more." Hermione cringed even as she said it, but a distraction was a distraction.

Sirius passed her the mug again with a grin on his face, he didn't notice in his drunken state as his fingers passed through the china when Hermione touched it. Another gulp and gag later she stared at him suspiciously as he continued to grin at her. It was then that she realised the rest of the marauders had fallen asleep.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"Sorry, I just never thought you were the type."

"I'm not. I'm just stressed." Hermione stood slowly and gathered up all her books. "I'm going inside." Sirius suddenly looked panicked and tried to stand up to stop her. His drunken legs turned to jelly and he fell back to the ground.

"You want to sit down, Hermione. This stuff is very fast acting." Hermione scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. She put her textbooks under her arm and started to walk towards the castle, ignoring his objections.

Only minutes later she ran into Severus in a deserted corridor.

"Sev…rus!" she grinned happily as he came into view. A small part of her mind was freaking out, wondering how the alcohol could possibly affect her so badly so quickly. Hermione giggled out her worried mind and turned to a worried Severus. Her back didn't notice as it slid down a wall to the floor. "Sev…rus, why is the room spinning?" The dark hared boy crouched down in front of her, balancing himself on his fingertips and the balls of his feet. He looked into her eyes and sighed with exasperation.

"By any chance have you been drinking?" Another giggle erupted through her body and Hermione looked down, confused by her shaking torso.

"Maybe. Please help." Severus stood and pointed his wand at her. Hermione gleefully rose up into the air and Severus levitated her back to her room.

Pulling back the covers of her bed, seconds later he dropped her unceremoniously onto the sheets. Hermione dragged the covers up to her chin and he sat carefully on a blanket at the end of her bed.

"I see you're a happy drunk." He said, a wise expression on his face.

"Yes, oh how boring." They sat in silence as Hermione watched the dust floating around in the air.

"Do you think you'll be okay… what am I saying? Why the hell did you get drunk?" Severus asked suddenly angry.

"I didn't mean to. The marauders…"  
"You don't have to say any more." Severus said, with one disapproving eyebrow raised.

"Sev…rus, do you still love Lily?" Severus' eyes bugged and he looked at Hermione in shock. A peaceful smile littered her features making him feel compelled to answer her drunken question.

"You're my girlfriend now."

"I know, but I also know that you **loved **her." She blinked owlishly at him, her mouth and nose hidden by her cover.

"How do you know that?"  
"I'm from the future, remember? Silly." Severus' mouth twitched with annoyance at being called something to juvenile.

"Look, I don't know if I still love her." Hermione nodded knowingly and looked at him with a calculating expression.

"Hmm."

"But everything I used to feel for her, I guess I feel for you."

"Both of us at the same time?"

"No! I… Look, I don't know. You're the one I want to be with." Hermione nodded again at his comment and continued.

"Ah, but what if James…"

"Hermione! I like you. I will probably never forget Lily because she was the first person who ever cared about me. I do miss her. But if I had to choose between the two of you…"

"Yes, but you would never have to." Hermione said wisely.

"Regardless, I would pick you."

"I wouldn't mind if you picked her, you know. The bond you two shared…"

"This is why I need to be able to touch you." Hermione yawned and snuggled down into her covers. "A kiss might shut you up."

"I do really rather like you, Snape." Hermione closed her eyes and felt the alcohol push her out to sea. "Even if you do have a big nose."

-

**A.N **yet another chapter. The next chapter will be her rescue. There are only three chapters left, including the epilogue that I only might do. But don't worry; I like the idea I have for it so I will probably write it. Yay, I just reread my notes on the epilogue and yes I will definitely be writing it; it's very sweet but at the same time very Snape.

I have just finished my last exam this morning so I now have ten weeks of free time. So expect some updates on all my ongoing stories except Life As A Muggle because that makes me angry when I write.

Also I'm in the mood to hear about what kind of drunks people are. That is **if** you drink because I tried to research types of drunk but I didn't get much.

Here is my drunken horror story: I realised that whilst drunk at a sleepover my friends and I had brought to life a male fantasy - drunk girls kissing. They were practising apparently butI can't look them in the eyes anymore!

Amuse the world please with your own horror stories.

Oh I have another one (the only two times I have drunk are my horror stories) My friend and I sat on a wall when she was depressed and drank, "Malibu, it's rum and coconut apparently and there was something else that was alcohol lying around so I just threw it in." It was disgusting.

**(1)**Direct quote from the film the Little Vampire but it is used in a different context. The film scared me silly when I was ten but when I watched it a couple of weeks ago all I did was "aww" over it. The quote is from the little girl vampire with the blonde hair but she was not being sarcastic when she said it. Instead she was fanning herself and swooning for the little blond human boy. (Aww)

**(2)** There is a HUGE daddy long legs spider on the wall behind my computer!!! I actually had a rather damsel in distress like moment when I whimpered upon first seeing it! I'm rather terrified… just whimpered again… great… and it's at least three inches long when it's stretched out! Okay… rather terrified… can't stop whimpering… this is just sad now. My dad isn't home… it's leaving… whimpered bloody again… where's my cat when I need her?

**(3)** Is it spiders that come in their droves? Or is that only ants? If it's spiders too then by logic there are a whole bunch of spiders hiding under where my legs are right now… terribly glad I have to type cross-legged.

**(4) **I was going to give her a purple daisy but I looked up the meaning and it was something like friendship. A tea coloured rose means "I'll always remember." And I like to think that both Severus and Hermione know that. But neither of them needs to say so.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10… wow

A.N I am actually really rather sad that this story only goes up to chapter 12. I'm going to really miss Snape. So much so that I will probably have to finish my other Snape story just to get my weekly fill of his Snapeness. (No that isn't a word but it should be.)

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh yeah and thank you to everyone who has ever reviewed me! I realised that twenty-seven whole times someone has bothered to tell me what he or she thinks and I am eternally grateful.

-

"Remus! I'm sorry, but I just can't!" Harry had reached full-frontal whining now that his numb fingers were getting their feeling back. "My fingertips are actually _burning_ from turning the pages." Harry held up his reddened hands to Remus' irritated face. "This is hopeless! We love Hermione but there has to be another way!"

"Well there isn't…"

"Ron knocked himself _unconscious, _Remus_._ Unconscious. We both watched as he purposely ran headfirst into that shelf!" Harry scowled at Ron's vacated seat; the smug bugger was up in the hospital wing. "It's not fair that he got out of it!"

"Harry, he has dented his skull…"

"I know! He's an evil genius!" Harry shook his fists with exasperation at Remus, but the man merely turned back to the books in his hands and ignored him.

Slam! A large and heavy tomb landed in-between Harry's shaking hands. The sudden noise made him jump in his chair. His knees extended, his feet left the floor, and the force slammed his head up into a sharp chin behind his chair.

"What the…" Harry rubbed his head and peered up at a furious Severus Snape.

"Potter! Did you just head butt me? You deranged narcissistic little toe rag!" The colour dropped out of Harry's face as though someone had pulled a plug on his confidence. He looked up at Snape as the tall dark man held one hand to his chin and pointed his wand at Harry's heart with the other. "You're a pathetic waste of space…"  
"Calm down, Severus. You startled him."

"I…" Severus struggled with his words as his brain nearly exploded with Remus' comment. "You have the audacity to say this was _my_ fault!"

"Well if you want to go around making pathetically showy entrances you must expect to get head butted every once in a while." Remus hadn't looked up from his book. He slid his finger under the next page and turned it over to continue his reading. Severus fumed above him and pulled his hand away from his throbbing chin. He grabbed the book he had dropped to scare the idiotic boy and pulled it flush against his chest.

"I did come here to help you. But I see you're handling it perfectly." He looked at the countless coffee mugs and open books on the table. He pointed his wand at Potter's red hands and muttered a stinging jinx. Harry jumped again and rubbed his hands frantically against his jeans. Severus waited for Potter to turn around and released his glare on the miscreant for daring to hurt him. He watched ecstatically as Potter shrunk into himself under his gaze.

"If you have information that will help Hermione, you should really give it to us." Remus turned to him as he spoke, casually trying not to ruffle Severus' feathers even more. But his attempt didn't work and Severus suddenly _needed _to crush him.

"Do you make a _habit_ of calling former students for example _Granger _by their first names? Because maybe it's something the headmaster would be interested in hearing about." Severus inquired with a quirk of his eyebrow. His smirk lessened as Remus' face refused to remove its tranquil expression.

"Do you make a habit of _seducing_ former students for example _Granger,_ Severus? Because maybe _that's _something the headmaster would be interested in hearing about." Severus was proud that such a comment would not effect his body language but inside he fumed even more.

Severus resigned himself to handing the book over; the headmaster had instructed him to tell the idiots everything he knew. He thrust the book into Potter's arms, sneering as the boy was winded.

"It's a wonder you and weasel-bee survived the past few weeks without the know-it-all. She obviously did all of the research work for your little stunts; if you hadn't noticed there is a code system in this library, Potter." He tapped the book in the boy's arms. "It was under T for **timetravel**." Severus spun on the heels of his dragonhide boots and in a flurry of robes he was gone from the library.

Severus stormed through the corridors, scattering students at every stride. He couldn't believe he had finally worked up the courage to bring her back. He had been musing over when the best time would be for weeks. It had driven him through seven bottles of Scotch and thirty-nine headaches. Oh yes, he had kept track. He knew that the second he gave them the book there would be a domino affect. Too soon he would be back in the past to collect her, then she would come back and be annoyingly Hermione and he would be… miserable. But he had, had to; it had been time. But at least he got to watch Potter and Weasley drive themselves insane reading; the researching idiots could never have found the book they needed in the library; he stole it seventeen years ago.

-

"_Hello_." The whisper was low and quiet and Hermione didn't understand why it put her suddenly at peace. "_I wish I could kiss you_." Velvet tones soothed her and she turned around to smile at Severus. She took in the dark circles under his eyes, the large nose, the angry gaze and the greasy hair and had to fight the urge to pull him into her arms. The no touching thing was hardest at moments like this when he looked so serene and peaceful.

"We're finally finished! Oh yes, I want to kiss you too."

"I just want to sleep forever; I am so tired." Hermione yawned and patted down her hair. She always ruffled it up in exams. They had just escaped their last NEWT and they were both exhausted.

"Come on, let's go up to my room and never wake up again." Severus smirked down at her.

"Sounds like a plan."

-

"Oi Granger!" Hermione groaned and leant her forehead against her table. The end of year party was in swing around her and Hermione had just wanted some peace.

"What do you want?" she asked grumpily as marauders flooded around her and Severus.

"What no 'hello'? No 'how ya' been'. No…"  
"Shut up Sirius." She warily opened one eye and tried to glare at him. Sirius sat on her left alternating between swigging from a mug of Black's Finest and glaring at Severus.

"Okay, okay. Look, you _appeared_ by the lake didn't you?" Hermione groaned again; they would have to pick now to confront her about her knowledge. Nervously she began to play with the flower in her hair. Severus' Valentines present looked lovely against her brown hair.

"Yes." She said warily, lifting her head up she tried not to breathe in the fumes from his drink.

"Well we were just outside, not doing any marauding or causing any trouble of course."

"Of course."

"But well we saw these two people _appear _by the lake." Hermione froze and looked at Sirius with an expression of disbelief.

"Oh Merlin… are you sure?"

"Yes. We didn't know whether it was something you should…" Hermione jumped from the table, her knees hit the wood and her and Severus' butterbeers rocked over.

"Oh my god. Erm… okay… erm… erm… bye. I'm leaving and I guess we won't be seeing each other again."

"Excuse me?" Remus asked with an amused expression. Hermione looked at him gleefully.

"What did they look like?"  
"Well… one was very tall and dressed all in black, had long hair, looked like he had a big nose… we didn't get too close."  
"Yeah and the other one was smaller. Brown hair, wearing a cardigan. Poof."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with cardigans!" Remus interrupted and Sirius playfully pulled him into a headlock.

"Hermione? Why are you still here?" Hermione looked at Severus, her eyes full of wonder.

"It's you Severus! You came! Why did you come?" Severus looked affronted and stood from the table with her.

"I'm obviously just a _lovely _person." Hermione laughed and stepped away from the bench. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Sure." She started waking briskly for the door of the Great Hall. Meandering between balloons and students, Hermione was about to break into a run. But someone stopped her.

"Severus, can I talk to you for a moment." Hermione turned to see Severus standing in-between herself and Lily Evans. Hermione nodded knowingly as Severus twitched in his dress robes.

"What about?" Severus' face was a picture of confusion. But suddenly Hermione watched in wonderment as it became cold and he shook it frantically from side to side. "No actually I'm a bit busy. Can it wait?" Hermione's mouth dropped and she took a step towards Severus. Lily stood in an equal state of awe at his comment in her emerald dress robes.

"Well actually it can't; we're leaving in the morning, remember?"

"I know." Severus said calmly. Hermione suddenly felt her face redden. Overwhelmed by feelings of fluster she waved Severus to Lily.

"No, it's okay, you don't have to make a choice between saying goodbye to one of us. I'll make it for you." She smiled at Lily, pretending to be as bubbly as the redhead was.

"Bye Severus. I'm **really** going to miss you." Hermione turned on her small heels and ran out of the door towards the grounds.

When she entered into the moonlight she sighed, happy to be outside in its rays. She spotted two figures moving around in the light shining off of the lake. Hermione picked up the hem of her dress robes and ran down towards them. One of the figures cast a lumos and suddenly Severus Snape and Remus Lupin were visible for anyone who wanted to see them. Hermione felt tears gathering at the corners of her eyes when she thought about how close to home she was. How close Harry and Ron, her parents, the Weasleys and everyone else she loved was.

She watched Remus and Professor Snape spot her and pull their wands in paranoia. Hermione flew even closer to them and recognition passed on their faces. Remus stowed his wand away in his pocket but Professor Snape raised his own even higher. Skidding to a halt in front of them Hermione held out a shaking hand to Remus, waiting in anticipation to see what would happen. Remus smiled pleasantly at her and held his own pale hand up to hers. Trembling fingers latched onto his and Hermione nearly sobbed in relief. Flinging herself into his arms she began babbling.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe I can finally touch someone!" Professor Snape looked at the duo and his lips pressed together tighter, anger boiled in his stomach but he forced his face to remain complacent.

Severus rushed out of the double doors and into the grounds. He could see Hermione running up ahead towards two figures in the moonlight. Severus felt something akin to a rope tug him towards her. His stomach and his chest lurched and he realised it was his heart that felt like it was burrowing out of his body. He started running frantically towards the lake.

His breath came in short miserable gasps and the feeling in his heart burned harder the closer he got; he realised she was in _Lupin_'s arms. Understanding washed over him and his pace sped up. He knew why his heart hurt so much - he loved her. She was leaving him and he loved her and there was nothing he could do about it. When he was only mere feet away from Hermione who was still swallowed in the wrong arms he slowed down and came to a shaky halt next to a tall dark man.

"_Bitch."_ Said the man and Severus looked at the tall figure next to him: long and lank dark hair, deadly white skin, long hook nose, stiff posture… oh…

Snape didn't know why he was still watching Hermione and the wolf. Seeing as every second that went by with her in his arms just made him even angrier.

"Holy crap!" Snape bristled and looked at a dark-hared youth standing next to him. He felt a look of disdain creep up onto his face when he realised it was a younger version of himself.

Suddenly Snape lurched forward; something had poked him in the shoulder. The professor reeled and whirled around to glare at Hermione.

"What do you think you are doing, Miss Granger?"

"I can touch you too!" Snape watched her hands twitch by her side. He gathered the courage to look up at her face and saw the same look of longing on it that he had seen everyday when he was eighteen. Snape sneered at her and turned away to look out over the Black Lake.

They didn't have much time. Severus looked at Hermione as she looked sorrowfully at his older self. He walked forward on anticipating legs and came to stand in front of her.

"Severus? Have you already said goodbye to Lily?" Snape stiffened where he stood looking out at the lake and Severus smiled at Hermione.

"No; I can bump into her anytime but I only get the chance to say goodbye to you once, right?" Hermione smiled sadly and stepped closer.

"You didn't have to…"

"I wanted to." Severus looked at the thirty-eight year old man standing by the lake and scowled. "The years are not kind to me I see." Hermione laughed and shook her head. Snape scowled over his shoulder at his younger self.

"I'm going to miss you." Hermione said suddenly. Severus nodded solemnly. His hands twitched at his sides and he realised what he should do. He cleared his throat and looked around Hermione at the wolf.

"Would you mind giving Hermione a… hug… from me." The wolf laughed softly and padded forward across the grass. Severus screwed his face up at the request, and his brow furrowed even more when the wolf put his arms around Hermione. "I'll say goodbye, then?" Hermione looked at the wolf questioningly and he nodded.

"Yeah we'll be going in a few minutes. So… goodbye?"

"Goodbye."

"You know you're amazing, don't you Severus?" her brow furrowed as she blurted out her question and she looked at his with worry.

"Yes, yes I am wonderful." Severus pulled his wand from his sleeve and pointed it at the wolf. His sent his own spell at the man and then at his older self to fill their ears with buzzing so they wouldn't hear any more. "Now that they're taken care of I can tell you that I will miss you too."

"Me too." They stared at each other pensively for a second before Hermione blushed suddenly. "But I mean we're just kids it's not like this is true love and we can never go on." She smiled wryly at him and he chuckled ignoring the clench in his chest when she mentioned love. "But then again I will really miss you when you hate me again."

"What makes you think I don't hate you now?" he asked with an uncontrollable grin on his face.

Hermione and Remus ran back up to the castle to tell Dumbledore they were leaving. This left both Snapes waiting down at the lake's edge. Professor Snape had declined their offer to come with them, sneering that he had enough of the old coot in his own time frame. Severus had watched with amusement as Hermione had jumped up and ruffled Professor Snape's hair before she and the wolf had run off. His older self had not recovered from being touched and was still swearing and flattening his hair. Severus waited until Hermione and the wolf were safely inside the school before he pulled his wand on the professor.

"Don't you dare do this to me." Severus said, his voice steady around the icy tone. Professor Snape started in shock and pulled his own wand.

"I believe you are mistaken; I am not doing anything." Severus took a step forward and laughed. Snape's eyes widened proudly at the dark tone of his younger self's chuckle.

"That's just it. We could have everything! But you're being a blind twit and just standing there like an idiot."

"Is this about Granger?" Snape laughed mercilessly and glared at his younger self, all traces of pride gone. "Believe me, you long ago put this silly little crush…"

"We could have everything. Do you not understand? Everything! We could have her." Severus took another step forward and glared at his older self taking in the wrinkles and other imperfections brought by age. "Not that she'd want us by the looks of you. But that just means you'll have to try harder."

"I assure you _I_ don't want…"

"I know you do, I'm you remember? What happened to getting everything we want? You're a damn Sytherine so start acting like one. I refuse to live without her." He raised his wand higher and pointed it between the older man's eyes. Laughter suddenly greeted his ears. Severus glanced up at the castle and saw Hermione and the wolf returning.

"Put your wand away, you stupid…"

"Don't you dare fuck this up."

-

"Okay all you need is to attach yourself to one of us, then we'll say the spell and we'll be back before you know it." Remus smiled kindly at Hermione. The girl nodded slowly and digested the information. Professor Snape impatiently tapped his wand against his thigh and glared at her. Remus pulled his own wand from his pocket and turned to Severus.

"I'm sorry Snape." He said quietly, making sure that Hermione couldn't hear. "Don't hate my younger self for what he did to you. He was afraid of losing his only friends and you were a casualty of that fear." Severus sneered at him and moved to stand with Hermione. He caught her eye and smiled sadly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sugar quill.

"Was going to split this with you later but…" he snapped the sweet in half and Professor Snape groaned in recognition.

"Sappy…" he grumbled to himself and looked away. Severus dropped the bottom half of the sugar quill into Hermione's hand and threw her a fleeting grin.

"Hermione we should go now. Before someone sees us." Hermione nodded sadly at Remus and grinned once more at Severus. She walked over to the two older men and looked between them, indecisive.

"Hurry up." Snape barked, Hermione rolled her eyes and walked towards him.  
"I think I'll go with you. Just to make your life just that little bit harder." She smirked up at him and he bristled.

"Now look here…" Hermione rolled her eyes and gripped his arm firmly.

"Ready?" she asked, the excitement of going home and the sadness of leaving Severus mingled, making her smile false. Remus' lips twitched as he looked at Hermione's hands around Snape' arm.

"Actually I don't think that is enough of a bond." As he fought not to laugh it was obvious he was over Severus' snub of his apology.

"I don't understand." Her gaze flickered between the three males until it caught on Severus smirking gleefully at her from the side of the time travelling trio.

"I think he means I'll have to put my arms around you." He said, marvelling at the purple that his older self had turned. Hermione laughed nervously and looked up at Professor Snape. "Life's a bitch, isn't it?"

-

A.N I hate the ending. Should I get rid of the "Life's a bitch, isn't it?" if people don't like it I'll take it away but if people think it's fine I'll leave it as it is.

Only one chapter and then the epilogue, I'm so saddened by this.

Thanks for reading.

Becky

p.s I finally have time to say thank you to everyone who gave me ideas a couple of chapters ago so:

Nutters5Potter – I used a couple of your ideas but I twisted them so they weren't exactly what you wanted to see though.

"I think that Severus needs to ask about the future especially about the mauraders. She should tell him the things that he does specifically that save her in the future about Harry and Ron. Severus should show Hermione any secrets like places he hides or places in the forbidden forest. They need to come up with a plan of what they will each do in the future- Is he alive? She needs to warn him. They should do some kind of revenge on L. Malfoy. I think they should tell eachother about their fantasies of one another. The marauders should be suspicious that she knows about them and they confront Severus and Hermione."

I made Hermione tell him he was important in the future without giving everything away. Severus showed Hermione his secret room where he hides and it was actually the inspiration for the entire epilogue. He extracted revenge (sort of) on Malfoy and I let the marauders find out a bit about what she knew but went for curious instead of suspicious.

THANK YOU

Tiannangel – I also used a couple of things from you.

"Personally, I would like to see a Valentine's day scene. XDD  
You know...you can have them exchange gifts and everything, and Hermione not denying that she's Severus' gf."

I used Valentine's Day I think in the last chapter and Hermione told Lily that she was Severus' girlfriend. I really liked how the Valentine's day went so THANK YOU.

Farles – I rather enjoy your reviews because they are nice and long. I used a couple of your suggestions.

"Do a Harry Ron chapter. We haven't heard anything from them, or what happened to them after Lucious put that spell on Herimone. Did he run?  
They find out the spell?  
Um HG could have a chat with Dumbledore again. Or get to know Harry's Mom and Dad.  
She knows remus's secret and their animagus secret so, that could be a starter. HG and SS could have a big fight."

I sort of used the fight idea by making them angry with each other for a while. The marauders know she knows things but they're not close. I wrote this story in answer to all the timetravel fics where she makes friends with them. In my original notes on the story the marauders were arses and you can see this in the first few chapters. I was going to keep them that way but your review made me decide to be a bit nicer to them. I did a Harry and Ron chapter which I hadn't thought to include; I was going to just have Remus and Snape show up with no background on it.

THANK YOU

Well that's everyone and thank you for your help. Not as long a chapter as last time, it was supposed to be even shorter but what the hey.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

A.N - Oh no it's getting closer and closer to the end and I had a horrible realisation that I wouldn't be writing anymore about teenage Snape in this fic! That's sad; I'm going to miss him. But I get to write snarky older Snape now which should be fun.

Also I apologise for the last chapter when Harry and Snape were talking; I just really can't write those two together.

-

Hermione stirred slowly and blinked open her eyes. Light flooded her senses and she groaned into her pillow. Damn sunshine, why couldn't it leave her bloody alone? She burrowed deeper into the cushion and threw her arm across her eyes to block out the light.

Her fingers brushed something soft.

Curiously and sleep-addled she walked the tips slowly across the silky object. Feeling the indents of closed eyes her own tried to open again. Her fingers travelled downwards independently over the bumps of a large nose and across smooth cheeks before dusting across two thin curves that were unmistakably lips. Her eyes refused to open properly, but through her blinks she saw the unmistakable black colour of teaching robes. Hermione willed the light to go away; she didn't want to wake up; whom she was lying on could be just a dream. Suddenly she managed to prise her brown eyes open and take in the sight below her.

Severus Snape lay on his back on the grass of the Hogwart's grounds, his arms trapping her to his chest. She bit her lip in glee; she had wanted to wake up in his arms for so long. Guilt crept up her spine as she realised this would be the closest she would ever get to Severus again. A wave of remorse for leaving Severus suddenly overwhelmed her, but she traced his face with her fingers and tried to block it out. Hermione bit her lip harder when she saw her Severus in the sleeping professor; he fidgeted like Severus in his sleep, he made the same small snore, his eyes even fluttered in _just _the way Severus' did.

Suddenly his eyes began to blink open. A horrified Hermione dropped her head back onto his chest. Maybe if he thought she was asleep there was less of a chance of him killing her. Severus shifted about in the grass as he slowly came to. Hermione moved with him from the force of the arms wrapped around her torso and the grip her fingers had in his robes.

"Hermione?" his sleepy befuddled voice broke through her ears and she struggled not to run away. "What the...? Where…?" his voice suddenly became unsteady and horrified. "Granger!" he looked around them and sagged with relief when he saw Remus still knocked out from the travelling a few feet away. He looked down terrified to see her locked in his arms. He attempted to tug his fingers apart so he could roll her off of his torso, but a small part of him refused to let go; he would never get to hold her again.

A groan floated towards them through the December breeze and he looked at a waking Lupin. Flustered he tried to throw her off of himself again but his fingers still refused to separate. He growled in frustration and tried again and again. As another groan emitted from Lupin he successfully won the battle with his mind and the girl was rolled onto the floor next to him.

Hermione quickly tried to relax the grip she had in his robes to make it seem like she had let go in her sleep. But she wasn't fast enough. The force of Severus' push and the strength of her grip sent Severus tumbling through the grass after her. Hermione's eyes snapped open and she looked up into Severus' horrified gaze. His body crushed her into the grass.

"What are you two doing?" Remus' broke their gaze and Severus rolled off of her and jumped to his feet. His glare bore into Remus as he righted his robes, but trying to look menacing was difficult when he had just woken up next to his teenaged fantasy.

"You didn't see anything, mutt." Remus held his hands up in surrender and shrugged at the angry man. He reached down and helped a flustered Hermione to her feet. She swayed slowly and tried to catch her breath; it had been knocked out of her by Severus' weight.

"We're definitely… home?" she asked excitedly through her gasps. Remus nodded and pointed up to the castle. Hermione turned around and shielded the December sun with the palm of her hand. A dozen metres away from where the trio stood in the shadows of the castle she could see two boys running towards them. "Harry!" Ron!" Grins bloomed on each of the teenagers' faces and Hermione ran forward to meet them.

Gangly arms quickly swallowed her and Hermione felt herself pressed against a hard chest. Sobs started to shake her shoulders and she clung tightly to their school robes.

"I can feel you, too!" she said happily into Harry's chest. "I've missed you so much." They remained a flurry of limbs in the cold sun as Remus and Severus looked on. A small but relieved smile ornamented Remus' face and he twirled his wand between his fingers; his job was done. He began to walk towards the threesome to join their happiness. This left Severus glaring at the teenagers with a face like thunder all by himself.

"Hermione, come on no more tears, now?" Ron asked semi-awkwardly. Hermione laughed and pulled away from his arms to glare playfully.

"They're happy tears, idiot. Don't know why I'm wasting them on you though." He enveloped her in his arms again and Harry latched onto them again.

"I really, really missed you so much." She said with relief, her voice muffled by someone's forearm.

"Can't of too much; you had Snape for company after all." Hermione laughed again and shoved Harry lightly with the palms of her hands.

"Well who else was I going to make friends with?"

"Well definitely not us; we would have made terrible role models for you." They turned as one to see a sheepish Remus standing next to them with his hands dug deep into his cardigan pockets. Ron and Harry howled with laughter and pulled him closer.

"That's true. What's this we hear about you getting drunk with the marauders, Hermione?" She blushed and hid her face in Ron's sleeve.

"You say that as if I didn't find you two taking firewhiskey shots at three in the morning once."

"Yeah but we were about to go to battle! What was your reason?" Hermione bit her lip and didn't look up. The boys turned to Remus, expecting an answer.

""Well we thought it was a lovers' tiff between her and Snape." The boys froze around her, in shock. Suddenly she was clamped down tighter in their arms as they caught her gaze with furious glares.

"What? Please tell me you and Snape…"

"We were hardly lovers." She mumbled into Ron's robe. "I couldn't touch anyone after all."

"What do you mean?"

(A.N - yes I was too lazy to explain things. Also they're not freaking out about the time travelling because they're in shock that they finally have her back. But it's been months for Hermione but only weeks for them.)

Later when the cold became unbearable Harry, Ron and Hermione strolled back up to the castle with their arms around each other. Remus had left already to be with Tonks and Teddy, but they had stayed outside to discuss everything away from nosy ears.

"You seem different, you know." Ron said suddenly as they trudged through the snow.

"Yeah… happier." Harry agreed.

"Nah, I'm probably just taller or something. I have been gone months."

"No, it's your smile. It seems more real." Harry said, he reached out and stopped her to look at her face properly. "Yeah, you're definitely more happy."

"What happened back there?" Ron asked curiously, he lifted her chin and turned her head from side to side to look at her smile. "I haven't seen this Hermione in quite a while."

"I guess Snape happened."

-

The next day after Harry and Ron had disappeared off to Potions Hermione found herself wandering through the corridors towards Dumbledore.

She arrived outside of the gargoyles leading to his office just in time to watch Snape walk down the spiral staircase. Hermione couldn't stop her eyes from lighting up when she saw him. Even his sneer as he tossed his robe to the side and billowed down the corridor didn't affect the twinkle. A content Hermione made her way up to the headmaster's study and knocked on the small wooden door.

"Come in, Miss Granger." Hermione pushed on the flank of the wood and crossed the threshold into the warm circular room. The red walls, portraits and trinkets brought an even happier smile on to her face and she grinned serenely at Professor Dumbledore. The old, wizened man smiled back at her and stood from behind his thick desk, clutching a small piece of square parchment and a tiny leather bag. He motioned for Hermione to take a seat and he walked across the ruby carpet to his phoenix. Hermione watched him feed the big fiery bird from the leather sack and then walk back over to her and his desk.

"Well Miss Granger, I must say it is lovely to have you back." Hermione grinned at him broadly again. Professor Dumbledore nodded and continued. "And of course you can remain at the school as long as you wish until you can arrange to leave." Hermione's face dropped; the realisation that she would have to leave Hogwarts was a bitter taste in her mouth and dead weight in her stomach. Hogwarts had become her second home and the world suddenly seemed terrifying; she was standing at the gates of her education, looking out at the future. Professor Dumbledore watched her reaction and smiled discretely; he was glad his plan would work.

"Yes sir. Of course sir." Hermione mumbled quietly, movement from Dumbledore pulled her eyes up away from her fingers, where they had rested in sorrow. He held out the small piece of parchment he had been holding earlier. Hermione took it and glanced at the words silently.

"Would you mind proofing this, my dear? I need to know if the job sounds attractive to someone of your age." Hermione read through the small advert slowly, her mouth still bitter and her stomach heavy.

_Wanted:_

_Apprentice for school healer Madam Pomfrey _

_At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Witchery._

_Two year apprenticeship with opportunity for promotion._

_All applicants must be eighteen years of age of above._

_Please write to Professor Albus Dumbledore._

Hermione raised a suspicious eyebrow at Professor Dumbledore and the man chuckled merrily.

"It seems fine, professor. I see no reason why someone _my age _would not want to apply." Hermione couldn't help but scowl at the infuriating man as he resumed chuckling.

"Of course _you _would not need an interview, Miss Granger. That is if you applied, of course. It would even help myself; I do so hate the hours of boring interviews filling a job placement requires." Hermione sighed, her annoyance draining; he was just being Dumbledore after all. Nodding she replaced the advert in his waiting hand and looked up at his expectant eyes. It was obvious she would have to play along with his little game.

"Would you mind if _I_ applied, Professor Dumbledore." He looked thoughtful for a second before he upturned his hand. Knocking the advert aside he grabbed her own and shook it frantically.

"Welcome to the team, Miss Granger." Hermione sighed again and stood.

"I will take my leave of you then, sir." Dumbledore nodded but his hands and eyes had already busied themselves with a large mound of parchment.

"I will have the house elves move your belongings to the apprenticeship rooms near the hospital wing. Why not go and introduce yourself to Poppy properly now." Hermione nodded quickly and walked towards the door. "Oh and Miss Granger?" Hermione turned to see his still engrossed in his work.

"Yes sir?"

"I believe I must warn you to remember that Professor Snape is not the man he used to be." Hermione swallowed uncomfortably; she knew it couldn't really be her heart that was the lump in her throat. _But_ it hurt as much as she always imagined it would if it was. "You must make sure you do not confuse the two." He still hadn't looked up from his work and Hermione felt undignified and small simply because he didn't think this was an important enough conversation to look at her in.

"I know sir." She said stiffly, glaring at the moon-shaped spectacles on his face.

"I'm not sure you do, Miss Granger." He said with kind condescension. Hermione didn't wait around to listen to any more of his warnings. She turned on her heels and stormed off down the Spiral Staircase without looking back.

-

It seemed that Severus Snape had decided the best way to deal with his wayward school boy girlfriend was to completely ignore her. Or at least that's what it looked like to Hermione. He looked through her when they passed in corridors; he waited in silence next to Hermione in the hospital wing for Pomfrey to appear to deliver his potions; he sat as far away from her as possible at dinner and even went as far to ignore anyone else that spoke to him about her. This treatment on any normal scale would infuriate Hermione, but it was made all the more worse by her forgetting what time she was in on a daily basis. She tried to smile at him in corridors before remembering he treated her like a troll now; she tried to talk to him about potions in the hospital wing; attempted to sit next to him at dinner and even to ask others why Severus was suddenly angry with her. She was supposed to be the brightest witch of her age and yet she couldn't even bloody remember that her boyfriend hated her now.

His _first_ public snub of her was in a heavy student traffic jam at the entrance to the Charms corridor.

Hermione sighed and pulled out her pocket watch. Students pressed in on her from every side and there was no movement up ahead. Younger students were squealing and obnoxious fifth years were still trying to push their way through the stationary crowd. God, she hated getting stuck in these. Suddenly she was pushed violently by a tall sixteen-year-old and she flew through the crowd to the left. A tall pillar of black suddenly blocked her way. She tumbled into the body of Severus Snape and his long pale hands caught her before she could be knocked to the floor. Hermione was quickly righted and then let go off and she rolled her eyes at Snape.

"Damn architect, huh Severus?" The entire crowd of students around them froze and turned scandalised eyes on them. Snape scowled at her in disgust. Hermione suddenly realised that this wasn't her Severus she was talking to and she blushed. "Sorry I forgot who you were for a second." He looked at the students around him and pulled out his wand.

"Move out of my way, you disgusting little…" Hermione watched him thrust through the crowd and disappear around the corner, throwing the traffic jam back into chaos.

"Quiet! Quiet!" she yelled over the crowd. "No one move!" the students around her stopped again in mild respect for Pomfrey's new apprentice and Hermione spent the next five minutes siphoning off students down hallways and into classrooms.

His _most_ public snub of was at dinner only a few days after her return. Hermione still wasn't used to eating at the top of the room and because of this always grabbed the closest chair so as to avoid embarrassment for as long as possible. She dropped into a hard wooden chair and looked out at the sea of students.

"God, this is weird. Pass the potatoes Severus." It was only then that she realised she was sitting next to a horrified Professor Snape. The teachers around them stopped eating and stared at them with a mixture of pity and horror. Severus pushed his chair back from the table making a disgusting scratchy nose that drew even more unwanted attention to him. He stood gracefully and then stormed from the room. "Sorry!" she called after him looking at the wand held tightly in his hand and his hunched, angry shoulders.

Hermione glanced to her left and saw Dumbledore shaking his head at her in pity. Fury suddenly bubbled up inside of her and her own wand appeared in her hand.

"I know." She said harshly, glaring at him. "Maybe I should put a sign on him that says, 'This is not Severus. Don't talk to him, idiot,' maybe that will help my tiny mind digest the information."

Weeks later she was in the library trying to research Dragon Pox. But the book she needed was two shelves higher then she could reach. All the students were in bed so there was no one around to help her. Hermione frantically dug around in her pockets for her wand before realising that it was in her robe. The robe that was lying on her chair across the library where she was actually working. She growled and tried to jump up and reach the shelf.

The noise of robes billowing suddenly greeted her ears and Snape rounded the corner of the aisle she was in.

"Severus, thank God! I can't reach the book I need. Help me please." Snape took in her flushed face and watched her jumper ride up her stomach as she jumped. He gulped silently and turned fleeing back the way he came in a huff.

Hermione passed the Christmas Holidays at Hogwarts with Madam Pomfrey but spent Christmas Day at the Burrow. She didn't see Severus once over the entire two-week period.

When the school was busy with student life again there was an outbreak of Gimpy Pox and Hermione's days were full of itching children and complaining teenagers. But when the epidemic started to cool down Pomfrey sent her to rest and relax in the library for a day. It was there that she finally saw Severus after an entire month without his scowl. He sat bent over a textbook in a secluded section of the library. She took a seat at the table behind him and sat, content to just watch him as he read. After five minutes he suddenly whipped around in his chair and scowled at her.

"Stop looking at me." Hermione jumped and blushed before looking down at the textbook in front of her. She listened to Snape's satisfied sniff sheepishly and focused on the pages of her book. Her fingers ran down her robe and plucked a sugar quill from the blue depths of one of its pocket. Hermione's brown eyes glanced at the white sugar quill as he fingers expertly snapped it in half without her brain telling them to. Her head dropped backwards onto the hood of her robe and she groaned; she hadn't been able to break the habit of trying to share her sweets. Hermione stubbornly raised the plume of the feather to her lips and tried to will her mouth to open and eat his half. Her lips refused to co-operate. She glanced up at Snape again and pulled her textbook up off of the table and held it under her arm. She pushed back her chair quietly and walked slowly across the floorboards to where he sat.

"I never can bring myself to eat your half." She dropped the plume of the sweet onto his textbook and started to walk away. Severus stared blankly at the quill. Hermione's hand crept up and she couldn't resist lightly brushing her fingers across his hair. Severus jumped and Hermione ran away.

"Stop touching me, Granger!"

Even more weeks passed until early February rolled around, bringing with it into the hospital wing the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team. Hermione bustled around bandaging and administering potions to members of the team. Not bothering to ask how the entire team had ended up injured. She was finishing the bandage around Harry's head when Madam Pomfrey walked over to them.

"Ah Hermione. You can take the empty potion vials back to Severus with Potter and Weasley." She dismissed Harry, Ron and Hermione down to the dungeons and the trio walked down to Snape's classroom as the rest of the injured team trickled away down different corridors to their own classes.

"Hermione you will be okay talking to him won't you?" Ron asked carefully as they walked into the entrance hall. Hermione laughed quietly on edge.

"Of course Ronald." Harry and Ron looked awkward and shifted the boxes of vials they were carrying for her between their hands for something to do.

"Well Hermione it's just that it's Snape and we know you liked…" Harry started as Ron and he shared a worried look.

"It's okay boys. I'll be fine." Ron and Harry still looked concerned as they walked into the dark classroom.

"Twenty points for Gryffindor for being late. Sit." Snape hadn't bothered to look up from his desk where he sat marking essays. Harry and Ron looked at Hermione again as they took their seats. Snape hadn't noticed she was there. The class watched with expectant eyes as she walked towards him with a determined gait. Snape finally noticed that there were someone coming towards him and he looked up ready to yell at the miscreant. As his eyes fell on Hermione the quill in his hand snapped between his fingers. He looked around the rest of the class as they watched the duo. "Back to work!" he barked at the seventh years and they all hurried to busy themselves with scales and knives. Severus stood from his desk and walked around it to Hermione.

"Madam Pomfrey said to…" he glared down at her and she blushed, cut off from her explanation. With clumsy fingers she dropped the boxes of vials she had taken back from Harry and Ron onto his desk. He sneered at the box and turned his back on her to look at the class again. The urge to touch him suddenly bubbled underneath her surface until it became uncontrollable and her fingers dusted lightly along his long black hair. Snape jumped and let out a bark like yell. He rounded on her with a scowl and a malicious glint in his eyes. The entire class' attention was drawn to them standing at the front of the class.

"It seems that little Miss Granger, our resident know-it-all, has a school girl crush on me." Snape sneered at her dark blush and knocked her box onto the floor. "How… sweet?" the class was silent but Hermione's mind didn't jump to gratitude for them. Angry tears sprouted in narrowed eyes and she looked up with fury at his satisfied smirk. Suddenly three months of suppressed feelings of love, anger and frustration spilled out of Hermione.

"Just shut the fuck up Snape." The entire class reached out and clutched each other in disbelief and shock; if anyone could put Snape in his place it was Hermione Granger. "You are an insecure, whiny, narcissistic, self-righteous…" her eyes purposely dropped from his face down to the middle of his robes. She felt every students in the room catch on to where she was looking, "_tiny _prat!" Hermione stormed towards the door, kicking a small cauldron as she went. One hand grabbed onto the doorframe and Hermione whirled around to glare at a shocked Snape. "Oh and just so you know they were your favourite _crystal _vials that you just destroyed… yeah." Hermione ran through the door as laughter erupted in the room as everyone relished in Snape being yelled at for once. The sound of Snape yelling for control echoed down the corridor after all.

Hours later Hermione heard a small knock on her door. She crossed her small study and pulled it open to see a worried Ron and Harry on her doorstep.

"Hey, are you coming in?"

"Hermione, please tell us you didn't… you know, with him."

-

The anger refused to melt inside Hermione. The next day she was still furious at him for attempting to embarrass her in front of his class. It was this feeling that drove her to do what she did the next night.

Hermione saw him meandering purposelessly down the corridor on his rounds. Scorned feelings resurfaced again and she found herself storming towards him. Severus saw her and sped up with a scowl on his face. Hermione broke into a run and he glanced back at her with a sneer. Her hand reached out and managed to grab his shoulder, he shook her off and backed up against the wall behind him.

"You're a terrible person." The simple statement shook Severus, and his hair fell in his eyes. "Dumbledore was right." Hermione whispered, as she looked him blankly in the eye. "You're not Severus." Snape looked at her with confusion. Hermione racked her eyes across his dark hair, white skin, and crooked nose. "You look a bit like him..." She mumbled, "…and you act a bit like him sometimes, but you're not _really _Severus, are you?" Suddenly he caught on, he understood now that he was Snape and his younger and better self was her Severus.

"What are you talking about you insane little girl? Of course I'm not who I was twenty years ago! I grew up." He couldn't help but admire the flare of fire that suddenly burned in her eyes as she stepped impossibly closer, stopping just before their bodies could be crushed together.

"No you've grown bloody down! Severus was a _great _person! He was witty and fun and he loved books and potions like they were people! You are nothing like him! In fact you're a shadow of the man Severus used to be." Infuriated Snape's scowl grew even darker.

"Well that part of me doesn't exist anymore. Forget _your Severus_ and leave me alone."

"You're right. All you are now is a petty and angry little man and it's a shame really; you had so much potential."

Hermione turned away from him and ran away blinded by angry tears. She wandered around the school for hours thinking everything over. She missed Severus so much and she simply couldn't come to terms with the idea that she would never talk to him again. Hermione laughed dryly at the small part of her brain that lamented the fact that she would never get to kiss him after all. Soon she found herself standing outside of Dumbledore's Office. He seemed to be someone who could help her. Hermione climbed the spiral staircase, musing that someone must already be inside for it to be fully accessible. She reached the top of the staircase and lent against the cool stone wall ready to wait for Dumbledore's visitor to leave.

"You have no idea what this is… constantly **there**… girl I wanted to sleep w…" Hermione hand flew to her mouth in shock as she recognised a yelling voice as Severus' "…entire seventh year… damn Granger… I can't stand her." Hermione nodded numbly in the dark of the staircase and walked away silently. She exited the hallway just as Snape and Dumbledore began walking down the staircase. "I am serious Professor. I can't stand being around her. She walks past in tiny outfits being all Hermione like and it's driving me insane. I missed her so much and I just can't handle her being back." Dumbledore surveyed him thoughtfully and nodded in sympathy.

"I understand Severus, but you knew she would be back sooner or later. I have told her to leave you be but she really can't help herself. Maybe you could put aside the age difference, Severus. Even just for platonic feelings; all you are doing is alienating the best friend you ever…"

"Friend? Friend, Albus? I wanted to shag her brains out for an entire year! That's hardly the thoughts of a best friend." Dumbledore gave him a disapproving look and Severus stormed away in anguish. "I'm going for a walk."

The grounds were silent. Hermione walked across the grass heading for the lake trying to clear her head. Tears clouded her vision still and she stumbled across the uneven ground. Her foot caught on a pebble and she looked down at it quizzically. Madam Pomfrey's request for her to bring her stones to transfigure into bandages for the next Quidditch rivalry duel sprung to mind. She stooped down and gathered dozens of pebbles into her pockets. She continued walking towards the lake and then stepped onto the pier. Unaware of two dark eyes watching her every move.

Hermione suddenly realised she was in a similar position to the one she had been months before back in the 1970s when the idea of time travel had been too much for her. Her feet began running before her mind decided to. She stumbled towards the end of the pier, the moon highlighting her as she reached the end. Suddenly she flung herself into the waves, the pebbles pulling her crashing down under the surface quickly.

Severus had acted the second she began to run. In a parallel to all those years ago he followed her down the pier and then into the water. The water burned around him but he determinedly kicked his feet to reach the surface. He gasped as his head broke the waves and he looked around desperately for a head of curls. He sucked in a deep breath and sunk back under the rippling black water. Hermione's light blue robe caught his eye several metres down. Severus screamed fitfully inside of his head and as he swam down he called her every name under the sun silently. His fists caught in the silky material of her robe and he pulled her up with him back to the surface. As he gasped for air Hermione tried to push him away. She kicked out blindly and thumped her fists on his chest.

"Let me go! Let me go!" His fingers clutched to the sides of her face in a desperate attempt to hold her head above the water.

"Stop struggling!" he commanded her and she kicked him even more. Severus let go in pain and she began to sink again. He wrapped his arm around her in a deathly grip and began to rip the pebbles from her pockets. "Do you have a fucking death wish?" he caught her eye and she stared at him blankly. Severus shook her shoulders lightly when all of the pebbles were free of her robes. "**Well**?" she shook her head numbly her eyes watering. Hermione tried to push him away believing he wouldn't want her in his arms any more. Severus growled in anger; he obviously thought she was trying to drop down again. He wrapped her legs around his waist and tightened his hold around her.

"What…"  
"I'm hardly going to let you die, am I? Are you over this silly little notion you have about killing yourself?" Hermione nodded sheepishly and let her forehead drop onto his shoulder. Severus sighed as he continued to kick his legs to keep them afloat. "You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days, you…"

"Is there no way you could _ever _love me again?" Hermione interrupted. Snape stared at her in disbelief.

"You just nearly died and you're talking about…" Hermione's shoulders began to shudder with tears and Snape pulled her impossibly closer.

"Sadly… no matter what I tried… I never stopped." Hermione's shoulders froze slowly and she peeled her face away from his neck. She reached out a cold, wet hand and touched his face.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to touching you." Severus gave her a small smile and his hand snaked around her neck to pull her lips down onto his. Hermione sighed contentedly into his mouth as they floated still treading water.

Severus couldn't believe it. He marvelled that her skin was as soft as he always imagined, and that she tasted just as sweet as he knew she would. He chuckled dryly against her and ran his tongue across her bottom lip tasting the salt from the water. It was amazing to be able to finally kiss her and feel her and hold her in his arms. Severus dipped his tongue into her mouth and marvelled silently that all his boyish fantasies were coming true.

-

A.N- My bloody sister won't shut up so I have to get off. OMG it's finished I am infinitely saddened by this. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Sorry about mistakes I don't have time to proof read because I want to get this up!

_**DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE EPILOGUE!!!**_


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue

A.N – I have kind of been waiting to write this chapter for quite a while so forgive me for my giddy, happy tone. I am going to miss Snape so much. Gah I can't stop smiling because I'm thinking about what's going to happen in the next thousand words or so.

-

A year passed quickly until Hermione found herself spending her third July in Severus' arms; thankfully the students were too busy to bother them and the teachers had learnt to avoid the couple or risk Severus' wrath.

In his cupboard Hermione pulled the green quilt tighter around her chest and burrowed her head into his neck.

"I have a lesson soon." He said quietly with closed eyes, Hermione felt him slowly run his fingers up and down her bare back. She groaned in dismissal of his movement idea and tightened the arm she had thrown across his chest.

"No." she said into his collarbone. Her fingers slowly danced across his skin creating mindless patterns on the stretched pale canvas. His chest vibrated with a condescending chuckle and Hermione scowled into his skin.

"Come on." Severus said and he wrapped his fingers loosely around her arms and began to lift her off of his chest.

"No, I want to stay here." Hermione said quickly and she burrowed deeper into the pile of cloth he used as a makeshift bed in his hideout. Severus sighed and stroked the mass of her curls coiling over his chest.

"Miss Granger, I have first years to terrify and Pomfrey will be expecting you." Hermione groaned again and blew softly on his neck, trying to distract him from everyday life. When he began to lift her away again she laced her fingers in his hair and rolled on top of him, deciding to play dirty.

"I heard the funniest thing yesterday." She said whilst running her fingertips slowly down his sides.  
"Oh?" he asked, closing his eyes under her ministrations.  
"Yes I was in the library looking for a book to read when you stormed past obliviously. I was standing very close to a table of your seventh year Slytherines and I heard a most amusing comment." Severus' eyes fluttered open in suspicion at the mention of his snakes.

"Oh." Hermione laughed and kissed his neck slowly.

"Yes, one boy said and I quote, 'Is it just me or has been even crankier since he's been getting laid.' Isn't that funny…?"

"Shut up." Severus said quietly with a small scowl on his face. Hermione laughed again and kissed him happily. "Now, get up; I can't feel my leg anymore." Hermione buried her head in his collarbone, irritated that her plan hadn't worked.

"I want to stay here with you." She sulked and kissed his neck again, but Severus wasn't going to let any distractions stop him from making at least one first year cry today.

"Well maybe I don't want to stay here with you." Hermione stopped kissing his neck and looked up at his black eyes. The stubborn look in his eyes made her laugh again and she dropped her head back down.

"Severus, please never say that to the naked woman in your arms; they'll get the wrong idea." He had slowly returned to stroking her back as she spoke and Hermione closed her eyes contentedly under his touch.

"We could come back later," he proposed quietly, "Though I would much prefer to see you naked in my arms on my actual bed." Hermione groaned again and burrowed deeper into the covers.

Their makeshift bed was a mixture of Severus' old school quilt; half a dozen old robes; nearly an entire decade of muggle clothes that didn't fit him anymore and any other bits of thick material he had come across. Hermione opened her eyes and pulled a thick grey jumper over them, adding to the quilt and the few robes that made up their sheets. Something about the colour of the jumper was familiar and Hermione held it up to her eyes for inspection.

"Hey, why do I recognise this?" she asked Severus. Hermione watched his face grow pale before she sat up on his stomach and then slid to the robe covered ground next to him. "Didn't I give this to you that Christmas?" Severus sat up, and then snatched the woollen jumper from her fingers and hid it back under his pillow where she had pulled it from.

"I had forgotten that was here." He said sheepishly, Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips down onto hers. They sat locked together in his cupboard until Severus remembered that they were running late again. "Up." He said in-between kisses and he slowly dragged her to her feet still attached to her lips.

Hermione sighed in annoyance and stretched her back lazily. The duo set about trying to find the clothes they had thrown across the room earlier that day and got dressed in comfortable silence. Hermione turned to Severus when she had laced up her boots and she then slowly straightened his collar with precision. He smiled his small smile at her and she kissed him quickly before walking towards the door. They strolled out of the cupboard and down the dungeon corridor together, their hands interlocked. Hermione relished in the physical contact, sadly knowing that as soon as they left the dungeons Severus would separate himself and she would be forced to walk next to him without the comfort of his touch.

"Do you have any plans for this summer?" Severus asked quietly as he led her through the maze of dungeon corridors she had never got the hang of.

"No, not really. Do you?" she said casually as the rest of the school grew closer and closer.

"I'm spending it at Spinners End refurbishing." Hermione laughed and squeezed his hand in comfort.

"Sounds fun." She said with friendly sarcasm.

"Come with me." Severus stopped in his path, and Hermione was caught on his hand and spun around to look at him.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously; Severus' normally placid and reserved expression looked awkward. She could also see that he was having to physically stop himself from fiddling by caressing her hand with both of his.

"Maybe I could use a woman's prospective." He said, determinedly fighting not to meet her eye.

"Hmm…"

"I will let you pick the wallpaper for the master bedroom." He offered and she could hear hints of desperation in his hurried tone. What he was really offering her suddenly became clear in Hermione's mind and she smiled.

"Now why would I want to do that?" she asked innocently. Severus sighed and suddenly caught her eye, his angry look made her smile grow. "Well?"

"Well you wouldn't want to look at me **and **ugly wallpaper in the mornings as my wife, would you? One ugly thing is enough at seven O'clock." Severus tugged her hand and pulled her closer so he wouldn't have to watch her reject him.

"Severus, was that a proposal?" she asked into his now collared neck. Subtly she hungrily breathed in his sandalwood and smoky scent.

"Maybe." Hermione pulled back and gave him a stern look. Severus groaned in horror and continued. "Yes, yes it was."

"Oh." Hermione said happily and she wrapped her arms around his back.

"Was that an answer?"

"No." Hermione scoffed and brought up one of her hands from around his back to fiddle with the buttons of his coat.

"Oh. Was that an answer?" Hermione laughed and pushed herself up onto her tiptoes. She closed her lips over his, her eyes fluttering shut at his peaceful expression. Minutes later Severus pulled away panting for breath. "What do you think?" Severus shook his head from side to side quickly trying to get rid of the fuzzy feeling inside of his mind. Yet again Hermione was confusing him, the girl did terrible things to his though process.

"I really haven't got a clue what it is you're saying," Hermione rolled her eyes and looked Severus dead in his eyes.

"I'll put it this way: how do you feel about cream wallpaper?" Severus smiled, his eyes flashing with relief, quickly he wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her into another kiss.

-

A.N… Finished? According to my plan I am.

Saddened? _Terribly_ so.

Going to cry? Depends

Going to miss Snape so much you might just have to finish I Never Loved You? Probably… yes I'll start right now.


End file.
